Antique quadruple silverplate figural grape leaf fruit bowl basket or bon bon bowl, bride's basket or dish with figural grape leaves on the vine handle and grape leaf shaped bowl with a small grape leaf motif stamped into the base by Pairpoint Silver.
This is truly an interesting Victorian silver piece, with it's large grape leaf bowl or basket, grape vine handle with applied grape leaves and yes, those are grape clusters for the feet. Note also the impressed tiny grape leaf impressed upon the bottom of the bowl!
There are no dents, dings or damage to this unusual Pairpoint piece, and only small areas of silverplate wear are noted. Overall, the original quadruple silverplate is in excellent condition and still retains its high polished silver finish. The textural elements are simply outstanding!
Silver cake, fruit or brides (bride's) baskets came into fashion late in the 18th century and experienced their greatest popularity during the first half of the 19th century. These hollowware forms were used to hold carefully arranged fruits or cakes. Great ceremony often accompanied the display and use of these silver and silver plated cake or fruit baskets, and the delicacies they contained. Most American silver cake baskets and compotes had solid bodies, but a few were made of open, interlaced wirework.
As the close of the 19th century drew near, large numbers of these dishes were made with beautiful multi-colored, ruffled glass bowls. As the century progressed, these amenities grew more elaborate, often having an abundance of naturalistic or stylized ornament added to a complex shape. Many incorporated multi-colored ruffled glass baskets for even greater elegance. The Victorian dining room, the main room used for many social occasions, was often used for the conspicuous display of wealth through luxurious table objects. Principal among these displays of wealth was the silver cake or fruit basket, always replete with food.
Decorative piercing on early silver was relatively uncommon because each hole had to be laboriously cut out by hand using a tiny jeweler’s saw. Thus, piercing was usually employed only when necessary. The most desirable pieces are elaborately pierced, marked by a well-known and respected silver company and of substantial weight.
Cake baskets are very elegant additions to dining-room silver and remain so today. The best silverplate baskets are of substantial weight, often with profuse foliate or animal ornamentation and with a superior finish.
Bonbon dishes were a form which developed in the 1890's in American silverplate. Even in less opulent households, where the sweetmeat course might be served in the dining room, the silver sweetmeat basket was much in demand, for the company moved to the drawing-room after dinner and was served with wine and baskets of nuts and raisins and other confectionary delights.
This antique quadruple silverplate figural fruit basket or bon bon dish measures 7" in diameter, 3.75" high and weighs 10.8 ounces.
You can read more about the history of Pairpoint Silver at our Silver Manufacturers pages. Touchmarked on the base with PAIRPOINT MFG. CO., the Pairpoint logo of a P within a diamond, QUADRUPLE PLATE and the pattern number 6602.
A1186 - Antique PAIRPOINT Quadruple Silverplate Figural Grape Motif Fruit Basket Dish Bon Bon Bowl Bride's Basket
$37.00
