Royal Copenhagen and Georg Jensen Blue Fluted Plain Pattern Bottle Opener

Producers of the finest in Danish porcelain, Royal Copenhagen is a company steeped in tradition. Its celebrated blue-and-white china patterns as well as its famed hallmark depicting the royal crown and three waves — symbolizing the monarch who founded the company and the three major waterways of Denmark — are emblems of master craftsmanship.

Royal Copenhagen was founded in 1775 by Queen Juliane Marie. Years earlier, after the death of her husband, King Frederick V, Juliane’s stepson ascended the throne. Shortly into his reign, he went insane, and the Queen became the head of Denmark and its small empire. She sought to improve Denmark’s economy and founded factories around the country to promote domestic growth and international trade. Royal Copenhagen was one of the first of these. Royal Copenhagen first made dinnerware and vases with blue-and-white motifs inspired by Chinese porcelain, then the rage in aristocratic Europe. Many of these designs are still made today.

Apart from its classic patterns, Royal Copenhagen has adapted to the changing styles of time and appeals to many different tastes. Their prolific body of work includes Rococo-style porcelain statues that incorporate stylistic floral patterns in an Art Nouveau style, as well as modern vases by such noted 20th century Danish ceramists as Axel Salto. Whether used for special occasions or displayed as part of a design collection, Royal Copenhagen pieces represent a legacy of the highest quality.

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For over a century, Georg Jensen has produced some of the finest objects in Scandinavian modern design, including silver tableware, serving pieces, home decor, jewelry and more, frequently partnering with leading artisans to expand its offerings and respond to shifting tastes. Known for minimal aesthetics that reference nature, the craftsmanship of this legendary Danish silverware firm has regularly married function with thoughtful and beautiful design.

Founder Georg Jensen (1866–1935) was born in the small town of Radvaad, Denmark, and began his training as a goldsmith at 14. After studying sculpture and then training with master silversmith Mogens Ballin, he established his own silver business in Copenhagen in 1904. By 1918, the company was successful enough to open a shop in Paris.

Jensen’s firm produced an incredibly vast range of silver objects, from serving dishes and barware to centerpieces and chandeliers. For his early work, which bore ornate floral details and other organic forms of Art Nouveau, Jensen looked to the splendors of the natural world. The 1905 Blossom teapot, for instance, was topped with a magnolia bud and deftly balanced on toad feet, while some of Jensen’s best-known flatware patterns included Lily of the Valley, introduced in 1913, and Acorn, which debuted in 1915.

Collaboration with outside designers, long before such partnerships were common in design, would lead to some of the company’s most popular and enduring work of the mid-century. Sigvard Bernadotte and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe created collections, as did Henning Koppel, whose curvy 1952 Pregnant Duck pitcher is a Georg Jensen classic.

After evolving and expanding throughout the 20th century, Georg Jensen was acquired by Investcorp in 2012. Today, the company is a global luxury brand with more than 1,000 stores around the world. It continues to produce seductive new pieces, such as a tea service made with Marc Newson in 2015, as well as timeless heritage designs, including the relaunch in 2019 of the 1018 solid sterling-silver Tureen 270. In 2020, the firm introduced the Jardinière 1505. Sculptural and richly decorative, the never-before-realized showpiece is hand-hammered from sheets of the finest sterling silver and is based on a 1915 sketch from Jensen’s archives.

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