Tea set

ARTIST / MAKER: Lenox (manufacturer)
DATE: ca.1900 (made)
PLACE: Trenton (made)
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES: Porcelain with silver decoration
COLLECTION NUMBER: 768

Founded in 1889, Lenox’s Ceramic Art Company was organised as an art studio which specialised initially in one-of-a-kind wares. The painted and modelled wares produced there were retailed in the most exclusive shops. This three-piece cobalt blue porcelain tea set comprises a teapot with a cover and removable strainer, a covered sugar bowl and cream jug, decorated with stylised floral silver decoration and a monogrammed cartouche. The silver design is typical of the Art Nouveau, a style which emerged in the 1880s when craftsmen, artists and designers sought to free themselves from the rigid artistic traditions of the past, developing a new style of asymmetry and curved lines inspired by natural forms.