Modernist Sterling Silver & Rosewood Tea & Coffee Service, Mexico, ca. 1940s

Dimensions & weight: Height: 10.75 inches Width: 3-1/2 inches Depth: 5.25 inches Weight: 27.4 troy oz This wonderful sterling silver & wood coffee & tea kettle, made by the famous New York master-silversmith William Lawrence deMatteo, very delicately decorated with the sprouts of young sweet peas. Although at first glance, this object casts thoughts about Art Deco, the unusualness of organic decorative elements in combination with the traditional form certainly speaks of its explicit Mid-Century Modern design. William Lawrence deMatteo (American, 12 October 1923 - 14 May 1988), silversmith and master craftsman, was born in New York City and was the son of Elizabeth Rommelman deMatteo and William Gaitano [Gaetano] deMatteo, an accomplished silversmith who immigrated to the United States from Acciaroli, Salerno, Italy, with his family when he was a boy. William Lawrence deMatteo grew up in suburban Bergenfield, New Jersey, and attended schools in nearby Tenafly, all the while observing and absorbing his father's skillful work. DeMatteo began studying sculpture and fine arts at Columbia University in 1941, but after the United States entered World War II he joined the navy in November 1942 and served in the Pacific theater as a torpedo bomber pilot. On 14 November 1946, in Asbury Park, he married Jayne Walpole, a painter who later co-founded an art gallery. They had three daughters and one son. DeMatteo resumed his apprenticeship with his father and may have continued his studies at Columbia before being recalled to active duty with the navy during the Korean War. He was discharged in 1953. Bill deMatteo, as he was usually known, visited the restored capital of colonial Virginia while he was still in the service and asked to see the silversmith's shop. Told that Colonial Williamsburg had none, he saw an opportunity for himself. Soon after deMatteo left the navy, he returned to Williamsburg and in July 1953 joined the staff as a silversmith. He created the entire silversmith program and was responsible for the James Geddy Silversmith's Shop, where he trained shopkeepers in interpreting craftsmanship to visitors, instructed and supervised apprentices in all kinds of metalworking, and handcrafted reproductions of eighteenth-century silver items for sale in the shop. DeMatteo also revived colonial silversmith James Craig...

Signed, numbered and dated around the edge: Tom Otterness 1994 31/100 MSS STERLING SILVER Marked on the bottom: Artes Magnus A large sterling silver Seder plate...

About sculpture This remarkable portrait bust is in all likelihood a privately commissioned sculpture from around 1940s. Despite the fact that the sculpture is not signed, it is cer...

About Sculpture This homoerotic ebonized hand-carved wood sculpture of a pair of nude males, the older one supporting the falling down body of the youth, was created by an anonymous...

Hallmarks: S.A. Calderoni, Milano, 800. Weight: 160.14 troy ounces (5 kg 794 g), including non-silver material. DIMENSIONS: Overall height: 12inches Bottom vessel dimensions: Length: 21 inches Depth: 18.5 inches Height: 7.5 inches Top vessel dimensions: Length: 12 inches Depth: 9.5 inches Height: 9.7 inches This magnificent formal centerpiece was created around 1940 in Milan, Italy by S.A. Calderoni, a famous Italian firm of fine jewelers and silversmiths that was established in 1898 and achieved its greatest fame during Italian Art Nouveau and Novecento periods. The company also manufactured items by special private orders and commissions, and was a supplier to the court of the last Italian King, Victor Emmanuel III. The outstanding artistic design in the style of Novecento and its generous proportions combined with a remarkable handmade rendering make this magnificent centerpiece not simply a functional object but a true masterpiece of applied arts. This luxurious hand-hammered silver centerpiece consists of two parts: - The smaller footed bowl...

ABOUT SCULPTURE This wonderful sculptural and portrait work was certainly created by a master sculptor, although not signed by the author. The face of this typical all-American boy, ...

Art Deco Modernist tea and coffee service with cut sides in sterling pure silver and rosewood by Jean E. Puiforcat. Service including : - a coffee p...

Art Deco Modernist tea and coffee egoiste set in sterling pure silver and rosewood by Jean E. Puiforcat created in the 1930s. Service including: - a coffee pot : 9 cm x 9 cm - a tea...

Art Deco Modernist tea and coffee egoiste set in sterling pure silver and rosewood by Jean E. Puiforcat created in the 1930s. Service including: - a coffee pot : 9 cm x 9 cm - a tea...

Art Deco Modernist tea and coffee set in sterling pure silver, vermeil and rosewood by Jean E. Puiforcat created in the 1930s. Service including: - a...

Art Deco Modernist tea and coffee service with cut sides in sterling pure silver and rosewood sockets by Puiforcat created in the 1930s. Service comprising: - a coffe pot of 16 cm x...

An early four-pieces sterling silver coffee or tea serve set by Hector Aguilar (1905-1986) circa 1940-1945 per mark "HA, Taxco, 940". The mid-century modernist silverware...