Victorian Aesthetic Movement Japonisme Silver Plate and Glass Butter Dish, c. 1880

An unusual aesthetic movement silver plated butter dish with a ‘W’ diamond registration mark, indicating it was made before 1883. The silver plated lid and underplate are engraved with herons and bull rushes in the Japanese style of the Victorian aesthetic movement. The bowl is of cut lead crystal with a fluted rim and star-cut base. It is encircled with a hexagon and arrow pattern between bands of frosted glass.

All three are in excellent condition. The silver plate is in very good condition with minor scratching to the base commensurate with age. The glass bowl has one really minute frit which can be felt rather than seen.

Japonisme is a French term coined in the late nineteenth century to describe the craze for Japanese art and design in the West after Japan opened itself to trade in the 1850s. Chief proponents in Britain were the artist James Whistler, designer Christopher Dresser and the architects Thomas Jeckyll and William Godwin.