Silver Presentation Bowl

One very impressive large sterling silver bowl in a hugely classical simple design.  Inscription on the front reads:  TO CHARLES HOLME MEMBER OF ORGANIZING COUNCIL 1891 HON: SECRETRAY 1894-1904 CHAIRMAN OF COUNCIL 1904-1907 WITH REGARD AND AFFECTION FROM THE OFFICERS AND MEMEBRS OF COUNCIL 1907 THE JAPAN SOCIETY.  This wonderful bowl is in positively perfect condition having only maybe one tiny little minute dent that I can see.  It is hallmarked behind the right handle on the bowl surface in a punch it says SWS & Co the next punch is a lion facing left with a paw up, the next punch a leopards head, the next punch E. The bowl measures 16” at widest (including handles) with a 11 ¼” bowl diameter – the base of the bowl is 9 ¼” in diameter.  The box itself measures 17 5/8” x 13” x 12 ¼”.

I was able to find some interesting information about Charles Holme.  He was an established figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. He had founded The Studio magazine in 1893 and subsequently edited it. The Studio was undoubtedly the most influential and widely read magazine of its kind in the world. Holme had extended his family's woolen and silk business to the Far East and was one of the founding members of The Japan Society, a country whose art he admired greatly. Holme also went into business with Christopher Dresser forming Dresser & Holme which imported Japanese wares from its branch in Kobe, Japan.  They were associated with Charles Louis Tiffany who commissioned Dresser to bring back a substantial collection of all kinds of artifacts from Japan amounting to several thousand items in 1877. 

These are London hallmarked for this time period. On the bottom it has the inscribed Tesser 26 New Bond St London.  As you may know Tesser was then and is now one of the elite and famous jewelry houses in the world specializing in fine and rare silver and exceptional and rare jewelry.  This bowl sits on a black ebony carved wooden table pedestal.  It comes with its oak presentation case having a brass plaque on top that is not monogrammed and a tag inside the felt lined box which reads: Vander & Hedges Silversmiths 26 New Bond St London W.  The box is in excellent condition – of course it is dry on the outside and missing one bail handle on the side which can be easily replaced.  I love presentation pieces and I think this one is just truly dynamite.  The bowl weighs 4 pounds on my digital postal scale.  Striving For ExcellenceIt isn’t brilliance or just getting the breaks,It is consistent attention to & honest respect for the Customer.

Blue Dolphin Antiques