Milk Jug
1936-1937 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This service is a faithful copy by the Birmingham manufacturer, Elkington of a Puiforcat design first produced in 1936. The design appears in the Elkington pattern books although no acknowledgement is made to the source. There is no evidence to suggest whether this is an unofficial copy or whether it was made under licence to Puiforcat.
Jean Puiforcat was a French silversmith, designer and sculptor. After service in World War I, he joined the family firm of silversmiths, working as an apprentice and designer. Concurrently he studied sculpture with Louis-Aimé Lejeune (1884–1969). Puiforcat exhibited continuously from 1920 to 1937 and worked independently from 1922. He designed silver objects in the Art Deco style as simple volumes with smooth profiles and surfaces and proportions based on geometric ratios (e.g. soup tureen, c. 1925; Grenoble, Mus. Grenoble). The austerity of these forms was tempered by areas of gilding, decoration in other materials (e.g. rosewood, ivory, onyx, lapis lazuli) or by decorative bands of ribbing or reeding. About 1927 he left Paris to live in Saint-Jean-de-Luz where he continued to design silver and to work as a sculptor. In 1929 he was a founder-member of the Union des artistes modernes. His designs were mostly for tableware, but in 1934 he exhibited liturgical silver for the first time, and the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937), Paris, included his stone sculpture of René Descartes (The Hague, Maison France). At the onset of World War II he left France, eventually settling in Mexico (1941). He opened a studio in 1942 and exported his silver mostly to the USA. He returned to Paris in 1945 but died immediately after his arrival.
Jean Puiforcat was a French silversmith, designer and sculptor. After service in World War I, he joined the family firm of silversmiths, working as an apprentice and designer. Concurrently he studied sculpture with Louis-Aimé Lejeune (1884–1969). Puiforcat exhibited continuously from 1920 to 1937 and worked independently from 1922. He designed silver objects in the Art Deco style as simple volumes with smooth profiles and surfaces and proportions based on geometric ratios (e.g. soup tureen, c. 1925; Grenoble, Mus. Grenoble). The austerity of these forms was tempered by areas of gilding, decoration in other materials (e.g. rosewood, ivory, onyx, lapis lazuli) or by decorative bands of ribbing or reeding. About 1927 he left Paris to live in Saint-Jean-de-Luz where he continued to design silver and to work as a sculptor. In 1929 he was a founder-member of the Union des artistes modernes. His designs were mostly for tableware, but in 1934 he exhibited liturgical silver for the first time, and the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937), Paris, included his stone sculpture of René Descartes (The Hague, Maison France). At the onset of World War II he left France, eventually settling in Mexico (1941). He opened a studio in 1942 and exported his silver mostly to the USA. He returned to Paris in 1945 but died immediately after his arrival.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Silver, rosewood handle, parcel gilt |
Brief description | Silver, parcel-gilt, rosewood, Birmingham hallmarks for 1936-7, mark of Elkington & Co., designed by Jean Puiforcat. |
Physical description | The body of the jug has a gently flared cylindrical form with horizontal ribs standing out from the sides; the interior gilt. The spout consists of a small opening on the top rim. The square sectioned wooden handle has a double curved E shape. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Marks and inscriptions | Base: maker E & Co for Elkington and Co., anchor, sterling, date letter M (1936-7), serial no. 38020
lid: sterling, date letter |
Gallery label |
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Object history | Acquisition RF: 74 / 2338 Purchase - £480 - for complete set Circ. 521-524-1974 From Chiu, 10 Charlton place, Camden Passage, London N1. Part of a service. This service is a faithful copy by the Birmingham manufacturer, Elkington of a Puiforcat design first produced in 1936. The design appears in the Elkington pattern books although no acknowledgement is made to the source. There is no evidence to suggest whether this is an unofficial copy or whether it was made under licence to Puiforcat. |
Summary | This service is a faithful copy by the Birmingham manufacturer, Elkington of a Puiforcat design first produced in 1936. The design appears in the Elkington pattern books although no acknowledgement is made to the source. There is no evidence to suggest whether this is an unofficial copy or whether it was made under licence to Puiforcat. Jean Puiforcat was a French silversmith, designer and sculptor. After service in World War I, he joined the family firm of silversmiths, working as an apprentice and designer. Concurrently he studied sculpture with Louis-Aimé Lejeune (1884–1969). Puiforcat exhibited continuously from 1920 to 1937 and worked independently from 1922. He designed silver objects in the Art Deco style as simple volumes with smooth profiles and surfaces and proportions based on geometric ratios (e.g. soup tureen, c. 1925; Grenoble, Mus. Grenoble). The austerity of these forms was tempered by areas of gilding, decoration in other materials (e.g. rosewood, ivory, onyx, lapis lazuli) or by decorative bands of ribbing or reeding. About 1927 he left Paris to live in Saint-Jean-de-Luz where he continued to design silver and to work as a sculptor. In 1929 he was a founder-member of the Union des artistes modernes. His designs were mostly for tableware, but in 1934 he exhibited liturgical silver for the first time, and the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937), Paris, included his stone sculpture of René Descartes (The Hague, Maison France). At the onset of World War II he left France, eventually settling in Mexico (1941). He opened a studio in 1942 and exported his silver mostly to the USA. He returned to Paris in 1945 but died immediately after his arrival. |
Associated objects | |
Bibliographic references |
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Collection | |
Accession number | CIRC.523-1974 |
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Record created | March 3, 2004 |
Record URL |
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