Zoo’s Coming to Dinner: 7 Silverware Highlights from SJ Phillips

Zoo’s Coming to Dinner: 7 Silverware Highlights from SJ Phillips

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  A German silver model of an ostrich, early 20th century
  Estimate £4,000–6,000.

  This model of an ostrich was made by German silversmiths in the 19th century, based on an early 17th-century model at The Gardner museum, Boston. Sometimes the ostrich egg was mounted in silver and used a drinking cup, while the German name Strauss is a direct translation of ostrich, and was therefore used heraldically by some families of this name.
  
  

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  A pair of Victorian silver swan form sauce boats, John Tucker, London, 1872. Estimate £2,000–3,000.

  Victorian sauceboats of this form are extremely unusual. The silversmith John Tucker, whose sponsor’s mark can be found on these examples , was a known maker of tableware, but these are far more elaborate than the majority of the objects which left his workshop.
  
  

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  A pair of fighting cock pepperettes, E.H. Stockwell, London, 1883. Estimate £800–1,200.

  Bearing the sponsor’s mark for Edward H. Stockwell, these salts were typical of the novelty silver that was produced from his workshops. Based on game or hunting birds, they were particularly popular with the landed gentry who would use such pieces at hunt suppers or similar events.
  
  

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  A pair of Victorian novelty silver pepperettes modelled as crane birds, Thomas Johnson, London, 1886. Estimate £800–1,200.

  These crane birds , another highly unusual model, take their influence from the Japanesque style that had swept through England during the 1860s. Although slightly later in date, they would have been considered exotic and only found on the most fashionable of dining tables.
  
  

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  A Victorian silver peperette in the form of a cockerel, E.H. Stockwell, London, 1880. Estimate £800–1,200.

  This cockerel , larger and heavier than some of the other examples in this group, was again made by the novelty specialist workshop of Edward Stockwell. In Chinese culture the cockerel is considered both brave and competitive, with divine power due to its relationship with the sun.
  
  

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  A Victorian silver pepperette in the form of pouter pigeon, E.H Stockwell, London, 1876. Estimate £1,000–1,500.

  The pouter pigeon, another by Edward Stockwell, is highly unusual with no other versions of this model known. The pouter is a breed of fancy pigeon, developed over many years of selective breeding. Its distinctiveness was described by  Charles Darwin  in  The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication  (1868).
  
  

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  A Victorian silver peperette in the form of a male bull mastiff, E. H. Stockwell, London, 1892. Estimate £1,200–1,800.

  Another rare model by Edward Stockwell, the male bullmastiff was introduced in the mid-19th century as a working breed in estate gardens to ward off poachers. They were bred by gamekeepers for strength, size and speed and are referred to as the ‘gamekeepers night dog’.
  
  

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