1081 - Cream service, milk jug, sugar bowl, sugar tongs, tray, 800 and 835 silver, rocaille decoration

Cream service, milk jug, sugar bowl, sugar tongs, tray, 800 and 835 silver, rocaille decoration 800 and 835 silver, four-piece cream service, milk jug, sugar bowl and tray hallmarked "800", crescent and crown and "G." in a circle, sugar tongs hallmarked "835" and "W" in a circle. 1) Milk jug with spout and curved handle, bulbous lobed body with encircling band ornament and rocaille and floral decoration, short curved feet with applied rosettes, gilt inside, H. 9 cm. 2) Sugar bowl with two curved handles, bulbous lobed body with band ornament and rocaille and floral decoration, feet with applied rosettes, domed lobed lid with sculptural flower finial, gilt inside. 3) Sugar tongs, grips in the form of bird's claws, openwork arms with relief rose and leaves, bow with engraved scroll decoration. 4) Oval tray with plain well, lobed rim with shaped, scalloped edge and relief rose and rocaille decoration. Good condition commensurate with age. Total weight 556 g. Crescent and imperial crown are the silver marks under the Imperial Act of 16 July 1884, which came into force on 1 January 1888; the crown stands for the German Empire, the crescent for silver, with a minimum fineness of 800 thousandths. The stamping itself was voluntary, whereas a maker's mark was compulsory, and in its essentials the act still governs silver marking today. The shell work, also called rocaille, draws on the formal repertoire of the Rococo, which was revived in the 19th century as Neo-Rococo, above all in the decorative arts.