STUNNING antique Victorian era silver silverplate TORONTO Bride's Basket Brides Basket or Cake Basket Tazza, highly ornate, with four feet and swing handle. (c. late 1800's) A tazza is described as an ornamental cup or vase with a large, flat, shallow bowl, resting on a pedestal and often having handles.
This is one of the highest quality silver plate tazza baskets I've come across! By the Toronto Silver Plate Company, this fine Bride's basket brides basket or cake basket tazza has four open-scroll and shell feet, highly ornate rolled decorative band along the edge, a Art Nouveau design in the center and a decorative silverplate swing handle.
Measuring 9" diameter, 4-1/4" high to the rim of the tazza basket and 10-1/2" high at the handle in the upright position, this heavy (1-1/2 pound) silverplate basket is in fabulous condition! Only minor surface scratches and a small area of silverplate wear on the inside of the center depressed area and a few minor bumps along the edge. The remaining silverplate is in very good condition, and the handle swings freely, but not so loose that it won't stay in the upright position.
This is so much NICER in person. Its difficult to capture the beauty in the photos. VERY high quality silver silverplate and would be an exceptional addition to your silver holloware collection!
Cake or fruit 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 are of substantial weight, often with profuse foliate or animal ornamentation and with a superior finish.
Touchmarked on the base as shown in photos with the Toronto S.P. (Silver Plate) Company logo. You can read more about the history of Toronto Silver Plate Company from our Silver Manufacturers pages.
A539 - Antique Victorian Silver Silverplate TORONTO Bride's Basket Brides Basket Cake Basket Tazza
$57.00
