Cleveland Museum of Art

Centerpiece from the Nereid Service

Goldsmith's & Silversmith's Company

Date

c. 1900

Medium

silver

Culture

England, late 19th-early 20th century

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Originally thought to have been made by the early 19th-century London silversmith Paul Storr because it had been marked with spurious Storr hallmarks, more recent scholarship has revealed that this service, representing the triumph of Great Britain on the high seas through the allegorical images of Grecian nymphs (nereids), was actually made to display at the 1900 world's fair in Paris. Such nationalistic fervor permeated design at the turn of the 20th century, especially in the years leading up to the First World War, when national pride was brought to its heels in Europe through a devastating conflict. This centerpiece is actually the product of many hands since the Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Company operated as a cooperative of silversmiths who sold their work through the company.

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