Household silver

Germantoilet serviceof 1743-45,Metropolitan Museum of Art.The set is mostly insilver-gilt,but includes twoJapanese export porcelainImari wareteacups and saucers. For a lady's dressing-table, including items for snacks and hot drinks.

Household silverorsilverware(the silver,the plate,orsilver service) includestableware,cutlery,and other household items made ofsterling silver,silver gilt,Britannia silver,orSheffield platesilver. Silver is sometimes bought in sets or combined to form sets, such as a set of silvercandlesticksor a silvertea set.

Historically, silverware was divided into table silver, for eating, and dressing silver for bedrooms and dressing rooms. The grandest form of the latter was thetoilet service,typically of 10-30 pieces, oftensilver-gilt,which was especially a feature of the period from 1650 to about 1780.

History

Late Roman spoons,Hoxne Hoard,England

Elites in most ancient cultures preferred to eat off precious metals ( "plate" ) at the table; China and Japan were two major exceptions, usinglacquerwareand later fine pottery, especiallyporcelain.In Europe the elites dined off metal, usually silver for the rich andpewterorlattenfor the middling classes, from the ancient Greeks and Romans until the 18th century. Another alternative was thetrencher,a large flat piece of either bread or wood. In theMiddle Agesthis was a common way of serving food, the bread also being eaten; even in elite dining it was not fully replaced in France until the 1650s.

TheVyborgiancoffee pot from the 18th century on display in theNational Museum of Finland

Possession of silverware obviously depends on individual wealth; the greater the means, the higher was the quality of tableware that was owned and the more numerous its pieces. The materials used were often controlled bysumptuary laws.In the late Middle Ages and for much of theEarly Modern periodmuch of a great person's disposable assets were often in plate, and what was not in use for a given meal was often displayed on adressoir de parementorbuffet(indeed, similar to a largeWelsh dresser) in the dining hall. At the wedding ofPhilip the Good,Duke of Burgundy,andIsabella of Portugalin 1429, there was a dresser 20 feet long on either side of the room, each with five rows of plate.Inventories of KingCharles V of France(r. 1364–1380) record that he had 2,500 pieces of plate.Plate was often melted down to finance wars or building, and hardly any of the enormous quantities recorded in the later Middle Ages survives. The FrenchRoyal Gold Cupnow in theBritish Museum,in solid gold and decorated with enamel and pearls, is one of few exceptions.

Maintenance

Silver requires a good deal of care, as it tarnishes and must be hand polished, since careless or machine polishing ruins thepatinaand can completely erode the silver layer inSheffield plate.

A silverman or silverbutlerhas expertise and professional knowledge of the management, secure storage, use, and cleaning of all silverware, associated tableware, and other paraphernalia for use at military and other special functions. This expertise covers the maintenance, cleaning, proper use, and presentation of these assets to create aesthetically correct layouts for effective ambience at such splendid occasions. The role of silverman tends now to be restricted to some private houses and large organizations, in particular the military.

One advantage of silverware is that growth ofbacteriais inhibited by theoligodynamic effect.

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  Sterling silver candlestick, One of a pair of candlesticks made for the5th Earl of Bath's widow. Marks for silversmithRobert Cooper,London, and 1679. They bear the arms of the widow of the 5th Earl of Bath.
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  Mark of Robert Cooper
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  De Lamerie
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  Pair of salts, salver and cream jug bearing arms of family of Beachcroft. (Arms granted 12 Nov. 1717: Bendy of siz argent and gules three stags heads ca Boss ed or. Crest: A beech tree proper behind six park pales argent.)
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  Seven salvers (c. 1735–1750). (Arms of Bisse (granted Ireland 25 May 1637): Sable three escalops in pale argent a canton ermine and a crescent for difference or. Crest: On a mount vert two snakes or, interlaced respecting each other.)
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  A c. 1770 hot-water jug, Dublin
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  Paul Storr
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  GS & WF canteen laid out
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  Coburg pattern canteen
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  Detail of a teapot
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  Detail of GS & WF forks. George Smith III and William Fearn

See also

• The Armada Service
• Cutlery
• Francis 1stsilverware pattern
• Germain Service
• Gorham Manufacturing Company
• Holloware
• International Silver Company
• Reed & Barton
• Tiffany & Co.
• Wallace Silversmiths Inc.

References

• Strong, Roy,Feast: A History of Grand Eating,2002, Jonathan Cape,ISBN0224061380

External links

• "Plate".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). 1911.