Ellis Finch
Head of Knightsbridge Silver Department
Lot 10Ф,Y
A rare Arts and Crafts silver seven-piece 'Country Garden' tea and coffee service including a large two-handle tray maker's mark for Johnson, Walker & Tolhurst Ltd, London 1904, signed 'L. Movio, 1904', the kettle on stand and hot water pot, maker's mark Godfrey, Bell & Godfrey Ltd, London 1920, signed 'L. Movio' (7)
21 November 2018, 13:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£8,000 - £12,000
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Michael Moorcroft
Consultant
A rare Arts and Crafts silver seven-piece 'Country Garden' tea and coffee service including a large two-handle tray
maker's mark for Johnson, Walker & Tolhurst Ltd, London 1904, signed 'L. Movio, 1904', the kettle on stand and hot water pot, maker's mark Godfrey, Bell & Godfrey Ltd, London 1920, signed 'L. Movio'
Baluster forms with spot hammered surfaces, each piece chased with bands of entwined flower blooms and leafy stems in high relief, a dog rose with thorny stems, poppy, nasturtium and sweet pea,
comprising a teapot, coffee pot, two-handled sugar bowl and cream jug, the large two-handled tray depicting each of these four flowers to each quarter section of the border, later kettle on stand and hot water pot, chased with convolvulus, blackberries, pots with ivory insulators.
length of tray handle to handle 75.5cm, height of kettle 33cm, weight 288oz. (7)
Baluster forms with spot hammered surfaces, each piece chased with bands of entwined flower blooms and leafy stems in high relief, a dog rose with thorny stems, poppy, nasturtium and sweet pea,
comprising a teapot, coffee pot, two-handled sugar bowl and cream jug, the large two-handled tray depicting each of these four flowers to each quarter section of the border, later kettle on stand and hot water pot, chased with convolvulus, blackberries, pots with ivory insulators.
length of tray handle to handle 75.5cm, height of kettle 33cm, weight 288oz. (7)
Footnotes
Provenance:
From the private collection and descendant of a past owner of Johnson, Walker & Tolhurst, who purportedly, originally commissioned the service.
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.