Ellis Finch
Head of Knightsbridge Silver Department
Lot 502
LATINO MOVIO: A fine Arts and Crafts silver sideboard dish marks for Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co Ltd, London 1906, also with facsimile signature 'L Movio'
20 April 2016, 10:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £10,000 inc. premium
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LATINO MOVIO: A fine Arts and Crafts silver sideboard dish
marks for Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co Ltd, London 1906, also with facsimile signature 'L Movio'
Circular form with a deep well, the rim with six chased and embossed lizards weaving through foliage on a thorny branch, the whole with a spot-hammered finish, diameter 43cm, weight 77oz.
Circular form with a deep well, the rim with six chased and embossed lizards weaving through foliage on a thorny branch, the whole with a spot-hammered finish, diameter 43cm, weight 77oz.
Footnotes
The facsimile signature of Latino Movio (1858 - 1949) has been noted on chased and embossed Arts & Crafts silver pieces hallmarked between 1901 and 1907.
Although very few details about his life and work have come to light, he appears in the 1911 census as an Italian 'artist in metal repoussé'. His son and daughter are recorded living in the same house as a 'brass finisher and chaser' and 'art metal teacher' respectively.
Given the style of his work, and the date when his signature begins to appear on silver, it seems probable that he was employed in the workshop of Gilbert Marks whose output ceased around 1902 because of illness. Further weight is lent to this argument by the fact that Movio's facsimile signature turns up on items bearing the 'maker's mark' of Johnson, Walker & Tolhurst for whom Marks worked and at whose showrooms he exhibited his silver from 1895 to 1901. A likely scenario is that Movio continued to work for them (as well as for other retailers) on his own account after leaving the employ of Marks, applying his own signature in the same style.
Movio last appears as a 'chaser' in a 1934 trade directory.