Centerpiece from the Nereid Service

c. 1900

Centerpiece from the Nereid Service, c. 1900. Goldsmith's & Silversmith's Company (British). Silver; overall: 66.1 x 97.8 cm (26 x 38 1/2 in.); base: 79.5 x 97.8 cm (31 5/16 x 38 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Thomas S. Grasselli Memorial Collection 1943.189 Originally thought to have been made by the early 19th-century London silversmith Paul Storr because it had been marked with spurious Storr hallmarks, more recent scholarship has revealed that this service, representing the triumph of Great Britain on the high seas through the allegorical images of Grecian nymphs (nereids), was actually made to display at the 1900 world's fair in Paris. Such nationalistic fervor permeated design at the turn of the 20th century, especially in the years leading up to the First World War, when national pride was brought to its heels in Europe through a devastating conflict. This centerpiece is actually the product of many hands since the Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Company operated as a cooperative of silversmiths who sold their work through the company.