Gadrooned George III Sterling Silver Tea Service

• Greek Key Pattern - The Greek key pattern is a decorative design that consists of continuous interlocking vertical and right-angled lines that form a repeating motif. It is also known as "Meander" or "Greek fret." The pattern is thought to have originated in ancient Greece, where it was used in various decorative arts, such as pottery, metalwork, and architectural elements. The Greek key design is widely used in a variety of contexts, including classical architecture, decorative arts, furniture, interior design and textiles. The pattern is considered timeless and classic, and its geometric simplicity makes it a popular choice for designers in many different fields.
• Ebony - Ebony is a close grained timber, black in colour. It has a fine texture which can be polished to a high gloss, making it suitable for venereering, inlay and stringing and its use as solid timber is resticted to small decorative items and ornamental decoration, such as chess pieces and musical instrument parts. The term "ebonised" means "faux ebony", timber that has been darkened during the polishing process to resemble ebony.
• Gadrooning - A series of lobes usually as a border. In furniture gadrooning is found as carved decoration around the edges of table tops in the Chippendale and Jacobean style furniture. Gadrooning is also found as decoration on the rims of silver and ceramics.
• George Iii - George III (1738 - 1820) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1820.
• Sterling Silver - Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of another metal, usually copper. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is relatively soft and the addition of the very small amount of copper gives the metal enough strength and hardness to be worked into jewellery, decorative and household objects.
• Engraving - The method of decorating or creating inscriptions on silver and other metal objects by marking the surface with a sharp instrument such as a diamond point or rotating cutting wheel.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Hennell, David & Robert (London) - silver, maker or retailer 148
• tea sets/services
  • silver, George IV 72
  • silver, Georgian 143