Wolfers Art Nouveau 252 Piece Sterling Silver Cutlery Set For 24 People

Extremely rare Art Nouveau cutlery set for 24 people in solid silver by Philippe Wolfers, Brussels circa 1898-1900. Although Phillipe Wolfers was known worldwide for these art nouveau style jewels and silverware his art nouveau cutlery is absolutely rare on the art market. The Art Nouveau style has enjoyed great success with countless collectors and heritage curators for several decades now .However, it is important to point out that between 1890 and 1910 it was especially to the taste of a rich, very avant-garde elite. The vast majority of these Belgian or French contemporaries continued to furnish and live in eclectic styles such as Louis XVI, Louis XV, neo-gothic or neo-renaissance styles. The sales figures for objects in the "aesthetic" style, as his contemporaries called it, were quite negligible compared to the sales of more classic goldsmiths. The very expensive investment in a large series of steel dies intended to stamp a new range of cutlery in hydraulic presses was not rewarded by abundant sales in the cases of the two models of the aesthetic style. The vast majority of customers unfortunately had very traditional tastes. Because of this commercial failure, Philippe Wolfers only published two very beautiful models of Art Nouveau cutlery, of which the one I present to you today (model nr.205) is the first (around 1899-1902), another will follow. in 1904. In my thirty-year career, this is only the second time that I have found a complete set of Art Nouveau cutlery by Philippe Wolfers. In addition, it is exceptionally large and is complete for 24 guests. Its  forms are typical of Wolfers' Art Nouveau production which, like his great friend Victor Horta, borrows the nervous and harmonious forms of the plant world but without copying it in a naturalistic way. So no stylized stems, foliage or flowers as we see in some of their contemporaries. A silver plaque engraved on its light oak box reveals that it was offered for the wedding of the daughter of the director of the Frasnes sugar refinery in Hainaut, by all the shareholders. Alfred Lemaire married Irma Clamart in 1904, their descendants will manage the sugar refinery until the second half of the twentieth century. The sugar factory grounds were emptied of their old industrial buildings to make way for a new industrial zone, but a rue Lemaire and a rue Clamart still recall today the presence in the town of this famous family of Hennuyer industrialists between 1878 and 1975. The large Canteen  contains 252 pieces 24 table forks 24 table spoons 24 table knives 24 dessert forks 24 dessert spoons 24 dessert knives 24 teaspoons 24 ice cream spoons 24 oyster forks 24 spreading knives 1 ice cream ladle soup 2 salad servers 1 cake server 1 sugar tongs 4 hors d'oeuvres servers 2 fish serving servers 1 sugar sprinkling spoon