Lot Essay
This rare pattern, believed only to be made as a dessert service, was registered by Chawner and Company in 1850 and exhibited by them at the Great Exhibition in 1851. The design is based on the figures of Hebe, Sappho, and a Dancing Girl by the celebrated Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822). Examples of Canova's works were published in three volumes by the engraver Henry Moses between 1824 and 1828, as The Works of Antonio Canova...Engraved...by Henry Moses..., and was a likely source for this reproduction (For more information see Hood, Curb and Olsen, "Exceptional Nineteenth Century British Flatware Including a Rare Canova Pattern Dessert Set," Silver Magazine, March/April 2004, 18-27.)