Victorian Silver Basket with Penwork and Foliate Decoration

• Victorian Period - The Victorian period of furniture and decorative arts design covers the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. There was not one dominant style of furniture in the Victorian period. Designers used and modified many historical styles such as Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, Neoclassical and others, although use of some styles, such as English Rococo and Gothic tended to dominate the furniture manufacture of the period.
  
  The Victorian period was preceded by the Regency and William IV periods, and followed by the Edwardian period, named for Edward VII (1841 ? 1910) who was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India for the brief period from 1901 until his death in 1910.
• Foliate - Decorated with leaves or leaf-like forms.
• Pen Work - Pen work is a type of decoration on Japanned (black lacquered) furniture and smaller objects that was popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The decoration was painted on to the black lacquered surface in white and details and shading was added in black Indian ink, with Oriental scenes popular.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• baskets, silver, period or age - Victorian 85
• Comyns, William & Sons (London) - silver, maker or retailer 74