! ! Wolfers Féres, Brussels, Square Bowl, Dish In 800 Silver With Glass Insert Circa Belg.1900

Wolfers Frères, Brussels – Square Art Nouveau Bowl, Chased Silver 800 and Cut Crystal, Budapest Import Mark circa 1901–1922 Wolfers Frères · Brussels · Silver 800 · Chased and Pierced · Cut Crystal Insert · Budapest Import Hallmark

A square praline / pastry bowl in finely chased and partially pierced silver 800, with a cut crystal insert, executed by the Wolfers Frères Maison in Brussels circa 1900–1910. Width 14 × 14 cm · height 7.3 cm · weight without crystal 255 g. Decoration of two chased silver medallions on the pierced walls.

Hallmarks: Wolfers Frères maker's mark in rectangular cartouche · 800 title · triangular house mark · Hungarian import hallmark, Budapest, winged A with P, in use 1901–1922 — attesting to delivery to the Wolfers Budapest branch, one of the house's major commercial outposts.

Wolfers Frères enjoyed worldwide renown and maintained, in addition to its Brussels ateliers and shop, branches in Antwerp, Ghent, Liège, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Paris and Budapest. The presence of the Budapest import hallmark on this bowl directly attests to this elite international commercial network — a Brussels piece of distinction that travelled to the Austro-Hungarian capital.

The Brussels firm Wolfers Frères was, around 1900, one of the most important producers of silverware and jewellery. Under the impetus of Philippe Wolfers (1858–1929), its objects took on a more pronounced artistic character. Son of Louis Wolfers (1820–1892) who founded the family firm, Philippe studied sculpture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. After his father's death in 1892, he became the house's artistic director, introducing silverware in an avant-garde Art Nouveau style that brought the firm immediate international recognition. His works are held in the collections of the Cinquantenaire Museum in Brussels, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. In 2017, the Cinquantenaire Museum reconstructed the interior of the Wolfers Frères jewellery shop — designed by Victor Horta — as a unique testimony to the collaboration between the two major figures of Belgian Art Nouveau.

• Dimensions: 14 × 14 cm · height 7.3 cm · weight without crystal 255 g
• Materials: silver 800 · chased and pierced · cut crystal insert
• Hallmarks: Wolfers Frères (cartouche) · 800 · triangle · Budapest import mark (winged A + P, 1901–1922)
• Production: Wolfers Frères, Brussels, circa 1900–1910
• Condition: very good well-maintained condition

Seen in museums — available to you.

Available for viewing by appointment at our Düsseldorf gallery.

Keywords integrated: Wolfers Frères Brussels, praline bowl silver 800, chased pierced crystal, Budapest import hallmark 1901-1922, Philippe Wolfers Belgian Art Nouveau, Cinquantenaire Museum, Victor Horta