Date

• 1700s
• 1800s
• 1900s
• 2000s

Location

• America
• England
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands

Material

• Porcelain
• Silver
• Wood
• Works on Paper

Rococo Silver

With its scintillating reflections, malleability, and high standing as a precious metal, silver is the natural material to highlight the effervescence of rococo design. Through the work of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier and Claude Ballin in Paris and other major silversmiths of eighteenth-century Europe and the American colonies, rococo objects in silver led the way in transmitting the style. Multiple design skills, combined with the work of specialists in engraving, modeling, chasing, and casting, were required to produce rococo silver, adding to the objects’ prestige.

Scrolling through the centuries, the flowing arms of candelabra, asymmetrical engraved cartouches, spiral fluting, and undulating waves appear in works whose spirit rejected conventional classicism in favor of more organic forms, respecting traditional methods of creation while redefining their limits.