SILVERWARE. Frequently termed plate or silver plate. From the nature of the use _ .
to which articles composed of silver are put they are often classified under such heads as ecclesiastical and civil, or ecclesiastical, munici pal and domestic. The usual styles of manipu lation of the metal in producing silverware are hammered or repousse, engraved, chased, enameled, etc.
Antiques.— It was a very frequent condi tion of the troublous early periods of European history that the inhabitants of a castle or small town had to migrate, taking what wealth they had with them. The Roman invaders' generals often carried with them on their campaigns large services of silver for their camp life. Frequently such migratory hordes were at tacked and overwhelmed, and, if time permitted, they hurriedly buried their most valued pos sessions. To such action we owe much treas ure-trove and from the "finds" we learn to what a marvelous perfection the ancients brought their silver plate. Among the most important discoveries by accident of such hid den wealth are the following: The °Treasure of Bernay," discovered (1830) at Berthouville, Normandy, contained 69 pieces, weighing about 55 pounds, of beautifully wrought, embossed, decorated silverware. Part belonged to the treasury of a temple of Mercury at Canetum 2,500 years ago. Two ewers (eenochoe) had chased subjects from the Iliad and the his tory of Achilles, the Greek hero. One of these pieces contains fine depictions of no less than 42 personages. The collection is in the Bibli otheque Nationale, Paris. The pieces are of different dates—before the Roman Empire up to the 3d century A.D. Another wonderful buried collection of silverware is the uHildesheim Treasure," now in the Antiquarium Museum, Berlin, discovered in 1868. It consists of 74 pieces; drinking vessels and table utensils, mostly well preserved and belonging, probably, to the 1st century A.D. The decoration is in Greco-Roman repousse work of the most exqui site description. Replicas of this treasure are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Another remarkable silverware discovery was that known as the "Boscoreale Treasure" It was discovered in 1895 in a buried Roman villa near Pompeii. The lovely workmanship and design point to the last years of the republic, some to the first years of the empire. It con tains 98 pieces of silverware in beautiful repousse decoration; cups, vases, phials, shal low dishes, casseroles, spoons, mirrors, etc. A very fertile field of discovery of buried ancient silverware is the Crimea, where a large amount of treasure has been unearthed (mostly now in Petrograd) from burial grounds of the Scyth ians. They date from 2,500 to 3,000 years ago and are of Greek workmanship.
History.— The story of craftsmanship in the precious metals of the Middle Ages is largely one of furnishing of gold and silver ecclesiastical pieces for the Church and its services. With the growth of wealth of roy alty and nobility from lack of banking facili ties, much of the saving was turned into gold and silversmiths' work. Starting about the 13th century we find the almory containing more precious wares of the family. The cupboard consisted of boards placed on trestles to hold and display the wealth in silver cups and other wares of the family. This easily portable furniture gave way, in times of peace, to a made-up "dresser* of so many •stages" or shelves on which to °dress," or display, the silver services and show-pieces. With greater refinement arrived the °sideboard* or 'cre dence" for the same purpose, to be followed by the °buffet.* The number of ((stages" kept in creasing as the wealth in plate grew, till royalty imposed an edict against the extravagance and restricted the number of shelves according to the rank of the owner. By the 16th century the hoards of plate were enormous. In England Henry VII left over $10,000,000 worth; the cup board of Henry VIII had seven tiers of plate; and so it was in other countries, especially Spain. Immense quantities of silver were arriv
ing in Europe from conquered Mexico and Peru; the silver mines of Potosi alone had brought to Spain by 1633 no less than 845,000, 000 pesos. Italy in her Renaissance brought forth many great artist-goldsmiths (see Got D SM ITH ING ) but perhaps, her most noted service of silverware is that produced by Benvenuto Cellini. It is in the Pitti Palace, Florence, and consists of 12 tazze, each tazza representing a month in the year. Germany had, in the 16th century, centres for gold and silver smithing at Augsburg and Nuremberg. Her taste was run ning to quaint forms and decoration such as cocoanut shell and ostrich shells mounted as cups, other standing cups had bodies of pine apple (anonas) form, others again were studded with hemispherical or pear-shaped protruber ances. Wentzel Jamnitzer, throwing aside the Gothic, often assumed Renaissance tendencies in his remarkable pieces. Mathias Walbaum and Hans Petzolt gained fame for their silvsmiths' work in the 17th century; Dinglinger did fine silver work on table centrepieces, etc., in the 18th century. In France, already in the 13th century, Philippe le Hardi granted his silver smith (argentier) Raoul letters of nobility. The dukes of Bergundy by the 15th century gloried in amassing great collections of gold and silverware. Louis, Duke of Anjou (14th century), had nefs, standing salts, enameled flagons, fountains, coupes, goblets, basins, even kitchenware, of silver. In 1360 the city of Paris presented Jean le Bon with a gift of silver vessels. By the 17th century France had become famous for her articles in the precious metals (see GOLDS M ING) and their makers, all pieces to be swallowed up in the melting pot for war purposes. The following century under the regent, Louis XV, Louis XVI and Napoleon, the royal factory of the Gobelins produced magnificent wares in the precious metals. Paul Lamerie, the French silversmith, went to England in 1712 and produced prolifi cally in London for 40 years. His silver pieces show sober, artistic decoration for a long time, then he gave way to the demand for over elaboration of ornament, later to come under the sedate ruling of the Greek Classic style. Under the brothers Adam silverware underwent a great reform in the 18th century; tea and coffee urns, ewers, sugar bowls, creamers, etc., came under the influence of the Greek art wares being excavated at Pompeii and Hercu laneum. The great rarity of examples of silverware of certain periods is accountable from the fact that warfare, at times, called for all the precious metals available to help out the empty treasuries. In 1521 Francois Premier ordered his subjects to send their silverware to the mint. The °grande Fontea under Louis XIV lasted six months (1688-89) and was the most prodigious in destructive power. Great pieces of massive silver furniture as well as table services (the king's treasure alone had cost over 10,000,000 francs and fetched only 3,000,000 francs in coin) were sacrificed. The year 1760 witnessed once more the journey to destruction of France's best plate, and in 1790 came the voluntary °patriotic fonte.° In the Wars of the Roses in England so much plate was destroyed that examples of silver plate antedating 1500 are very scarce. The Reformation (16th cen tury) swept away all the silverware discover able. Charles I of England, in 1643, to replen ish his empty treasury, ordered that all silver ware be melted down and paid for at five shil lings per ounce; 12 Oxford colleges contributed 1,610 pounds per week, and the gentry 700 pounds each week. Coming down to• strictly modern times, we must deplore the fact that 19th century Europe and England in the Vic torian period were in a decadent stage in art work and silverware followed the vulgarized styles. France with her °nouveau art') and Germany with her °Jugend)) style have strug gled but not succeeded in reaching any admir able stage of art production.