American Arts & Crafts Silver Spoon Set by Marie Zimmermann

Description

A set of Arts and Crafts spoons in hand-wrought silver by Marie Zimmermann (1879-1972), a noted American metalsmith, jeweler and … more A set of Arts and Crafts spoons in hand-wrought silver by Marie Zimmermann (1879-1972), a noted American metalsmith, jeweler and designer working in New York City during the early 20th century. The set comes directly from the artist's estate. and dates circa 1915, to the period Zimmermann maintained a workshop studio and showroom at the National Arts Club at Gramercy Park.

Each skillfully crafted solid silver spoon is in very good condition with a spot hammered surface and an applied silver handle. The pieces are a substantial combined weight of 6.6. oz / 186 g. The largest spoon measures 4.63 in. Length and is marked with Zimmermann's MZ artist's cipher on the back of the handle. The medium sized spoons measure 3.25 in. Length while the smallest pair measure 2.5 in. Length. Each piece tests as solid silver and would be ideal for a number of appetizers, including oysters.

Zimmermann's creative designs for jewelry, funerary monuments, and ornamental accessories for home and garden were eclectic, often experimental, and informed by her life-long interests in the historical design and the natural world. Period journalists referred to her as "master of a dozen crafts perhaps the most versatile artist in this country" and "the last of the great metal craftsmen the modern Benvenuto Cellini." Her designs were exhibited widely throughout her career and today, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City holds the largest collection of her objects, acquiring their first example in 1922.

Examples of her creations in jewelry and metalwork are also in the permanent collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, and the Columbus Museum of Art.

For additional information, please see The Jewelry and Metalwork of Marie Zimmermann, American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation and Yale University Press, 2012. less