FEATURES ARCHIVE

Since he first opened his shop on a fashionable street in Copenhagen in 1904, Danish silversmith Georg Jensen has been revered for his innovative designs carried out with the highest standards of workmanship. The May sale of English, Continental and American Silver presents signature works designed by Jensen himself as well as by Johan Rohde, one of his most prominent collaborators who helped establish the firm’s leadership in the field of 20th century silver.

Georg Jensen
Jensen’s naturalistic designs took their cues from the aesthetics of the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau movements, and his stylized fruit and floral motifs reinvented new shapes for established silver forms. The Blossom pattern is one of the most classic examples of the early Jensen style and can be found in the tea and coffee service and Blossom pattern flatware.

Johan Rohde
Among the most celebrated of the firm’s designers was Johan Rohde, who joined in 1917 and is perhaps best known today for designing the Acorn pattern flatware. In contrast to Jensen’s work, Rohde’s was more spare in its use of ornament, illustrated by his incredibly sleek silver pitcher designed in 1920 and considered an iconic 20th century silver design. His pieces show less interest in naturalism, instead finding inspiration in historical styles, as demonstrated by the Acanthus pattern flatware which draws upon a classical vocabulary. A classic fish dish, one of few to feature a fish on the mazarine, epitomizes Rohde’s talent for stylized forms.