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Gorham Manufacturing Company

Pattern for crumb knife, asparagus fork, berry spoon, vegetable spoon and fork, and fish knife and fork, "Apollo Crowned by the Muses", 1894

Description

Maker

  • Florentin Antoine Heller, 1839-1904, French, designer
  • Gorham Manufacturing Company, 1831-, American

Title

Pattern for crumb knife, asparagus fork, berry spoon, vegetable spoon and fork, and fish knife and fork, "Apollo Crowned by the Muses"

Year

1894

Medium

Silver

Dimensions

15.3 x 4.2 x .4 cm (6 x 1 5/8 x 3/16 inches)

Type

  • Metalwork

Credit

Gift of Lenox, Incorporated

Object Number

2005.118.42.13

Projects & Publications

Publications

Surprise Endings

Gorham Silver's Mythologique

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Making It In America

October 11, 2013 - February 9, 2014

These flatware design samples combine intricate detailing wrought from hours of modeling by hand with the evidence of a drop press’s mechanized brute force. They also testify to the desire 19th-century Americans felt for designs derived from the past as they simultaneously embraced the industrial processes that would guarantee the country’s future. The polished refinement of Antoine Heller’s 24 handle designs, each depicting different mythological figures and scenes, contrasts with the utensils’ unfinished lower sections—note the untrimmed excess metal left between the fork tines (lower left and right).

In the Victorian dining room, the ability to manage dozens of implements, from a pickle fork to an oyster ladle, attested to a diner’s command of complicated social rules and expectations, and therefore his or her status.

Related

Gorham Manufacturing Company

Mythologique Flatware Design Samples, 1894

More objects +

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Pattern for crumb knife, asparagus fork, berry spoon, vegetable spoon and fork, and fish knife and fork, "Apollo Crowned by the Muses" with the accession number of 2005.118.42.13. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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