A very rare & fine quality antique German Art Nouveau silver plated three piece tea set. This stunning set consists of a tea pot, a cream jug & a sugar bowl. Each piece is of an cylindrical fluted form tapering from a point underneath & raised on three fluted design legs. The teapot has a scrolled handle on one side & a swan neck spout on the other with pierced holes on the inside. It has a circular hinged lid on the top with raised foliate decoration around the edge & a mushroom shaped finial on the top. The sugar bowl has a scrolled handle on either side with a removable lid matching that of the teapot. The cream jug has a scrolled handle on one side, a pouring spout on the other & a matching raised foliate decoration around the rim. Each piece is marked on the underside of one foot with the makers mark of the famous ostrich mark, containing the image of ostrich put in rhombus. This mark dates this tea set being made between 1903 - 1910. Lovely fully usable collectors item.
 
 
Maker
WMF
Germany.
WMF was originally called Metallwarenfabrik Straub & Schweizer and was opened as a metal repairing workshop. Through mergers and acquisitions, by 1900 they were the world's largest producer and exporter of household metalware, mainly in the Jugendstil, or Art Nouveau style, designed in the WMF Art Studio under Albert Mayer, sculptor and designer, who was director from 1884 to 1914.
WMF is the abbreviation for Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik, which in English means Wurtemberg Metalware Factory. The history of this foundry is well documented [1,2,3]. WMF was created in 1880 after the successful merger of two Wurtemberg foundries, the Geislingen factory belonging to Daniel Straub (Straub & Sohn) and the Esslingen factory of Alfred Ritter (A. Ritter & Co.). The first foundry was commercially more successful, while the second one was using a more advanced technology of galvanic silver deposition, which was first applied in Esslingen by the German chemist Carl Haegele (in 1871), the brother-in-law of Alfred Ritter. In 1881, after the retirement of Daniel Straub, Carl Haegele became the managing director of WMF. In the same year the Esslingen factory was dismantled and its equipment was incorporated into the Geislingen foundry. During the next thirty years WMF experienced a period of rapid expansion, which lasted until the beginning of the World War in 1914.
 
Weight
1202 grams (total)
 
Dimensions
L x W x H
Teapot: - 240mm x 120mm x 255mm
 
Condition.
Excellent condition with light surface marks that are consistent with genuine age, use & polishing. There are no dings or dents & there is just a tiny little patch of silver plate loss on the inside of the teapot handle.