Canandaigua Gallery Features Single-Owner Collection
Hand crafted sterling silver is as precious for its medium as it is for its creative craftsmanship. Objects made of sterling are elegant and refined, terms explaining sterling’s contemporary appeal to decorators, collectors and art lovers.
An exclusive exhibition and sale of approximately 40 of the finest examples of sterling silver objects created by the very best craftsmen all produced during the American Arts and Crafts period (1900-1920) are on display at Finger Lakes Gallery and Frame, 175 S. Main St., Canandaigua, beginning June 26 through September 29.
Bowls, vases, trays, candlesticks – all handwrought in sterling and created by such manufacturers and craftsmen as Kalo, Lebolt, Randahl, Mulholland, Shreve, Heinrich Eicher, Joel F. Hewes and Tiffany – will be for sale at the 175 South Main Street Canandaigua Gallery.
Sterling from the Chicago-area is represented by Kalo, perhaps the best-known of the city’s makers. A sugar and creamer with an oval tray, brandy warmer, a compote and a tray of monumental dimensions – the largest ever seen – are on display.
“Trays are much, much harder to create than they appear,” says exhibit curator Bruce Austin. “Creating a tray is far more than simply cutting out the form from a sheet of metal.”
When the craftsman is planishing (hammering) one end of the tray, “the other end tends to lift and bend,” Austin explains. The large, oval Kalo tray with gently detailed rim is the work of a master silversmith, Austin notes: “No one but the very best could have created it.”
Also from Chicago is a footed and gently curved tray by Falick Novick identical to the one shown in Sharon Darling’s groundbreaking 1977 exhibition catalog Chicago Metalsmiths, a 4.5 pint pitcher by The (Julius) Randahl Shop and serving pieces and drinking vessels by Lebolt.
West Coast silver is represented by a pair of elegant 12-inch tall Shreve & Co. (San Francisco) candlesticks; and from the East Coast is a six-sided Tiffany & Co. (New York) tray with Art Deco style handles.
Other American manufacturers available for purchase include Gorham (Providence), Hyman & Co. (Chicago) and J.L. Locke (Titusville, Pa.).
Among the sterling by international makers is an exquisite, circa 1910, three-handle chalice by Goldsmiths & Silversmiths (London, England) and several scarce Carl Poul Petersen (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) pieces.
Petersen apprenticed with famed Danish silver craftsman Georg Jensen, later marrying Jensen’s daughter, and worked out of Montreal. The exhibit presents a 15-inch square tray and matching 10-inch diameter bowl, both worked by hand in repousse and in a corn or pod pattern. Additionally, a 10-inch serving fork and spoon by Petersen will be shown.
The exhibition represents a single-owner’s collection, unique in many ways.
For instance, an extensive flatware set by Lunt (Greenfield, Mass.) in the “Pynchon” pattern will be shown. The Celtic-style utensils along with rarely found serving pieces were never offered as sets to Lunt’s customers. Instead, the anonymous collector painstakingly assembled the extensive service of gracefully reticulated forms over two decades of diligent searching.
“The silver exhibit and sale dovetails perfectly with the Gallery’s artistic mission: bringing customers and collectors the very best in art,” says owner Brett Utter.
A long-time fixture on Main Street, Utter extensively renovated the 6,600 square foot space two years ago. Since then, the Gallery has become a destination for art and antique lovers.
Finger Lakes Gallery and Frame, located at 175 S. Main St., Canandaigua, NY is open every day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Phone: 585-396-7210; website: http://www.galleryandframe.com/ ; email: Brett@galleryandframe.com
