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Lot Essay
GORHAM AND THE MARTELÉ LINE
The Martelé line at Gorham Mfg. Co. was born at the end of the 19th century in response to the Arts and Crafts movement both in England and the United States, with an emphasis on hand-wrought sterling silver, a reaction against the rise in machined and silver-plated items. Begun in 1896 under company manager Edward Holbrook (1849-1919) and English born lead designer William Christmas Codman (1839-1921), the line focused on hand-hammered hollowares (the word Martelé in French meaning hand-hammered) raised from flat pieces of silver in the new Art Nouveau style, decorated with sinuous flowers, foliage, and whiplash motifs and with visible hammer marks from the chasers. The line gained popularity through the beginning of the 20th century, with the most successful pieces created before 1905.
According to Gorham's archives, the present lot, Punch Bowl 3018A, was raised in 225 hours by silversmith Frederick J. Buxton Sr. (1856-1928). The chasing required an additional 341 hours and was accomplished by esteemed Martelé silversmith David Wilmot (1853-1940). Wilmot trained in England and was hired by Gorham in 1875. According to researcher Sam Hough, Wilmot was regarded, for a long period, as Gorham's most talented chaser, evidenced by his salary, which was only surpassed by that of the factory foreman. Wilmot briefly left Gorham, but returned in 1899. Upon his return, Wilmot, along with Robert Bain and George Sauthof, were paid wages double that of other Gorham chasers. He remained at Gorham until his retirement in 1925. The present punch bowl was completed on 21 September 1903, and had a net factory price of $1,500, or just over $53,500 today. This work was specifically created for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition as evidenced by the interlaced SL mark on the underside. L.J. Pristo illustrates the punch bowl along with ladle FDK in Martelé: Gorham's Nouveau Art Silver, 2002, p. 60.
Gorham had a long history of showing works at international expositions, starting with a booth at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Other works of Martelé silver intended for exhibition sold recently in these rooms include a silver-mounted glass claret jug, sold 22 January 2021 lot 241, a pair of silver vases, sold 24 January 2020, lot 386, and a single silver vase, sold 18 January 2019, lot 838, all of which were shown at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, where the Martelé line was first premiered on the world market. Additionally, a pair of silver seven-light candelabra from the Athenic line shown alongside the present lot at The Louisiana Purchase Exposition were sold 20 May 2015, lot 386.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held in 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri to celebrate the centennial of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. After five years of planning, and $10 million dollars fundraised from private donors and city bonds through the Missouri state legislature, the Exposition opened on April 30th, eventually welcoming over 19 million visitors before it closed on December 1st. In addition to various industries and corporations, such as Gorham, 50 foreign countries and 43 U.S. states held exhibits, providing fair guests the opportunity to experience far away lands, and the latest innovations in communication, entertainment, medicine, and transportation. These include one of the first wireless telephones, the x-ray machine, and demonstrations of electric streetcars and early airplanes.
The Gorham booth was located in the Palace of Varied Industries, one of the largest structures built for the exposition near the main entrance. The pamphlet published by Gorham to accompany the booth declared that,
“The exhibit by the Gorham Company at St. Louis will serve to demonstrate the value of modern methods as applied to silversmithing. The wares exhibited will illustrate the development in design resulting from the school of freedom in art inaugurated by the Gorham Company and will show the beauty of form and delicacy of treatment of those objects wrought entirely by hand. They will also show, in those objects into the production of which machinery in the hands of skilled artisans has entered, that the individuality of the artist is still retained. They will further shows that in the methods employed by the Gorham Company in modern silversmithing the art has in no way degenerated, but has reached the highest point in its history."
The majority of items shown were specifically made for the exhibition, and were marked with an interlaced SL as seen on the present lot. The Martelé offering included 19 items consisting of 62 pieces, including cups, trays, bowls, tea services, and a 16 piece dressing service. The centerpiece was a silver-mounted ebony writing desk and matching chair inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, now in the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island (Obj. No. 58.095ab). The exhibition by Gorham was universally praised, with the firm winning grand prizes for gold and silverwares, jewelry, bronze works, and leather works, the “Applied Arts, Fine Arts Gallery” prize for the writing table and chair, and a grand prizes for Edward Holbrook and William C. Codman, as well as five gold medals for their collaborators. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition can be seen as the height of Gorham’s promotion of the Martelé line, as it was the largest quantity shown at international fairs to date before the final showing at the 1915 San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition.
The Martelé line at Gorham Mfg. Co. was born at the end of the 19th century in response to the Arts and Crafts movement both in England and the United States, with an emphasis on hand-wrought sterling silver, a reaction against the rise in machined and silver-plated items. Begun in 1896 under company manager Edward Holbrook (1849-1919) and English born lead designer William Christmas Codman (1839-1921), the line focused on hand-hammered hollowares (the word Martelé in French meaning hand-hammered) raised from flat pieces of silver in the new Art Nouveau style, decorated with sinuous flowers, foliage, and whiplash motifs and with visible hammer marks from the chasers. The line gained popularity through the beginning of the 20th century, with the most successful pieces created before 1905.
According to Gorham's archives, the present lot, Punch Bowl 3018A, was raised in 225 hours by silversmith Frederick J. Buxton Sr. (1856-1928). The chasing required an additional 341 hours and was accomplished by esteemed Martelé silversmith David Wilmot (1853-1940). Wilmot trained in England and was hired by Gorham in 1875. According to researcher Sam Hough, Wilmot was regarded, for a long period, as Gorham's most talented chaser, evidenced by his salary, which was only surpassed by that of the factory foreman. Wilmot briefly left Gorham, but returned in 1899. Upon his return, Wilmot, along with Robert Bain and George Sauthof, were paid wages double that of other Gorham chasers. He remained at Gorham until his retirement in 1925. The present punch bowl was completed on 21 September 1903, and had a net factory price of $1,500, or just over $53,500 today. This work was specifically created for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition as evidenced by the interlaced SL mark on the underside. L.J. Pristo illustrates the punch bowl along with ladle FDK in Martelé: Gorham's Nouveau Art Silver, 2002, p. 60.
Gorham had a long history of showing works at international expositions, starting with a booth at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Other works of Martelé silver intended for exhibition sold recently in these rooms include a silver-mounted glass claret jug, sold 22 January 2021 lot 241, a pair of silver vases, sold 24 January 2020, lot 386, and a single silver vase, sold 18 January 2019, lot 838, all of which were shown at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, where the Martelé line was first premiered on the world market. Additionally, a pair of silver seven-light candelabra from the Athenic line shown alongside the present lot at The Louisiana Purchase Exposition were sold 20 May 2015, lot 386.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held in 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri to celebrate the centennial of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. After five years of planning, and $10 million dollars fundraised from private donors and city bonds through the Missouri state legislature, the Exposition opened on April 30th, eventually welcoming over 19 million visitors before it closed on December 1st. In addition to various industries and corporations, such as Gorham, 50 foreign countries and 43 U.S. states held exhibits, providing fair guests the opportunity to experience far away lands, and the latest innovations in communication, entertainment, medicine, and transportation. These include one of the first wireless telephones, the x-ray machine, and demonstrations of electric streetcars and early airplanes.
The Gorham booth was located in the Palace of Varied Industries, one of the largest structures built for the exposition near the main entrance. The pamphlet published by Gorham to accompany the booth declared that,
“The exhibit by the Gorham Company at St. Louis will serve to demonstrate the value of modern methods as applied to silversmithing. The wares exhibited will illustrate the development in design resulting from the school of freedom in art inaugurated by the Gorham Company and will show the beauty of form and delicacy of treatment of those objects wrought entirely by hand. They will also show, in those objects into the production of which machinery in the hands of skilled artisans has entered, that the individuality of the artist is still retained. They will further shows that in the methods employed by the Gorham Company in modern silversmithing the art has in no way degenerated, but has reached the highest point in its history."
The majority of items shown were specifically made for the exhibition, and were marked with an interlaced SL as seen on the present lot. The Martelé offering included 19 items consisting of 62 pieces, including cups, trays, bowls, tea services, and a 16 piece dressing service. The centerpiece was a silver-mounted ebony writing desk and matching chair inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, now in the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island (Obj. No. 58.095ab). The exhibition by Gorham was universally praised, with the firm winning grand prizes for gold and silverwares, jewelry, bronze works, and leather works, the “Applied Arts, Fine Arts Gallery” prize for the writing table and chair, and a grand prizes for Edward Holbrook and William C. Codman, as well as five gold medals for their collaborators. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition can be seen as the height of Gorham’s promotion of the Martelé line, as it was the largest quantity shown at international fairs to date before the final showing at the 1915 San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition.