Dish

Object Type
This ornate stemmed bowl, formed of a stylised representation in silver of the leaves and flower head of the artichoke plant, could have been used to serve cooked artichoke. Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management gives four suggestions for cooking and serving the vegetable. Although one large head of artichoke would fill the bowl, several recipes in the book offer dishes of individual leaves, or smaller slices of the vegetable in gravy. However, it is just as likely that the form was a novelty for the table and used for presenting sugar or dessert dishes.

Design
The dish was designed in a style known as naturalism, which uses nature as the basis of the ornament. Love of nature was one of the most universal and respected sentiments in the 19th century. In addition, the revival of interest in historic style, particularly the Rococo, with its playful use of natural forms, increased the enthusiasm for employing nature as a decorative device on art objects. Naturalism was widespread and promoted as a good stylistic model by design reformers such as Henry Cole (1808-1882), the first Director of the V&A. Cole, through the art schools under his control, emphasised the importance of appropriate decoration, subservient to an object's function. At its best naturalism could be strikingly original but in some cases the form and function were lost in decorative excess.

Manufacturers
The Fox family of manufacturing silversmiths enjoyed a long working relationship with the London retailers Lambert & Rawlings and generally supplied high-quality silver in period styles. The silversmiths were subscribers to Knight's Vases and Ornaments ( 1833 ), which provided models in Rococo Revival styles.