German Silver Cutlery Set with Harlequin Pattern

A large harlequin set of German .800 silver cutlery, mainly two…
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A large harlequin set of German .800 silver cutlery, mainly two patterns and including 12 of the following; dessert spoons, dessert forks, cake spoons, fish knives, fish forks, teaspoons, coffee spoons, fruit knives and forks, dinner knives, luncheon knives; 11 cake spoons & table forks; butter knives and rests (6), cake forks (5), pairs: salad server, pickle forks, fish servers with gilded blades; serving utensils (4), serving spoon, butter knife, cheese knife, baby pusher and odd dessert fork. Weight (solid items only) 4315gm. (excludes filled silver handled utensils). Contained in seven drawer cutlery cabinet, the bottom drawer with collection of oddments, including cutlery, candelabra capitals and drip trays etc. Provenance: Originally belonging to Benjamin David Magnus born Hamburg died 1942 in Terezin concentration camp, Czechoslovakia. See additional photos.

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  • Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.

    For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.

    Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
  • Harlequin Set - A harlequin set is a collection of items that are similar in style or design but feature different variations in colour, construction or pattern. The term "harlequin" comes from the traditional costume worn by a character in Italian commedia dell'arte, which is made up of different coloured patches.

    For example with furniture, a harlequin set may refer to a group of chairs, typically dining chairs, where a number of the chairs are identical in design but one or more of the chairs may have a difference in the design of the leg or back. Harlequin sets can be found in silver flatware, porcelain dinner settings and glassware settings.

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