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A set of cutlery, or flatware, has formed the basis of all dining room entertaining since the late seventeenth century and is the most important silver purchase which any household will make to-day.Prior to the 1660s, the spoon was the most popular implement for eating, although individual knives and two-tined steel forks were in use. These items were carried and used by the owner wherever he went. Very often there was only one silver spoon in a household, unless the owner was particularly affluent and this was purchased to mark the wedding or a birth or at times a death. The earliest mention of a fork being used for eating is in an Italian glossary of 1023 and the use of a knife and fork in the modern manner began to spread from Italy to the courts of northern Europe during the sixteenth century. Royal inventories in England in 1550, 1559 and in the reign of Elizabeth I, in 1574, record 12 spoons and 12 forks “of silver and guilt”. The earliest English silver table fork was recorded in 1632 as part of a set made for a noble marriage. However, it was not until Charles II and his court returned to England from the Continent that a dramatic change began to take place in Britain in terms of eating implements and eating etiquette. During the 1670s the use of a knife, fork and spoon became standard equipment for the aristocracy and the practice of eating from an individual plate instead of spooning food out of a communal dish or into a bowl became established. The concept of a formal room used only for dining evolved early in the eighteenth century and percolated down from the aristocracy to the middle classes and below. With it came the development of sets of multiple flatware and cutlery, spurred by a multitude of etiquette books guiding the new user. Although the Trefid pattern which was prevalent from the early 1660s to around 1700 is acknowledged as being the first to be produced in services in England, there is no known complete service in existence to-day. The Dog Nose pattern rapidly superceded the Trefid in the early 1700s and became virtually the only pattern in use during the Queen Anne period, until about 1715. Some complete services still exist but are very rare. From then on, until about 1770, the main pattern for flatware was what we now call Hanoverian. This pattern can still be found to-day in sufficient numbers for it to be relatively easy to build up a table service, although demand for this pattern is rising and pushing prices up. During the middle of the eighteenth century, the Hanoverian pattern was enriched by some wonderful rococo decorations on table spoons, tea spoons and serving implements, particularly ladles but these pieces were used in conjunction with the Hanoverian pattern of table services. By 1760-1770, the Hanoverian pattern underwent two important changes. The ends of the spoon stems turned down instead of up and so for the first time in England the table service was no longer laid in the French manner and spoons were placed on the table open bowl uppermost. Consequently, by 1780, crests and initials on spoons were engraved on the front of the end of the spoon stems. Secondly, the forks which had up to now predominantly had three prongs became four-pronged. The pattern which developed from these changes is now called Old English. There were a number of very elegant variants to this pattern in the last forty years of the eighteenth century but the plain Old English pattern as well as the plain Fiddle pattern of the early nineteenth century form the basis of all other flatware patterns up to the present day. It is interesting to note that while to-day we treasure the antique, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the prime importance was to own the latest and most fashionable design in table services. So it was very much the practise to send your silver to your goldsmith and ask him to refashion it into the latest design. The Fiddle pattern originated in France, where it was the most popular pattern of the mid eighteenth century. However, in Britain the majority of Fiddle pattern dates from after 1800. With the continued growth of affluence and the swing towards the heavier classicism of the Regency, the Fiddle pattern and its derivatives rapidly replaced the lighter forms of the Old English. The 1820s saw the introduction of a large variety of stamped patterns, based on the Fiddle pattern, with heavy ornament such as the King’s pattern and many others. The first three quarters of the nineteenth century were the zenith of table service refinement. The use of services became much more standardized and there was an ever increasing array of specialized eating implements such as fish knives and forks and other tools. Spoon making and flatware making in general was a highly specialized branch of goldsmithing. By the second half of the eighteenth century an almost dynastic group of flatware makers evolved, dominated by members of the Chawner, Smith, Eley and Fearn families and their prominence continued well into the nineteenth century. These flatware makers were connected through partnerships but also through their apprenticeships and these links extended to the mid nineteenth century to include such important and prolific makers as George Adams and Francis Higgins. Due to this outstanding craftsmanship, there is a very subtle pleasure to-day in using a set of antique cutlery. The choice of patterns is so varied that the set will blend with any environment, whether modern or traditional. The feel of eating food with these implements will give an instant boost to anybody’s quality of life. |
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