ANTIQUE 20THC JAPANESE SOLID SILVER MASSIVE 8 PIECE TEA & COFFEE SERVICE C.1900
20th Century Japanese Meiji period, silver eight-piece tea & coffee service on tray, exceptional and magnificent quality. Comprising: a teapot, a coffee pot, a kettle on stand, a creamer, a covered sugar bowl, a tea caddy, a covered entree dish on stand, and a two-handled rectangular tray.
Hallmarked with Japanese silver marks (1000 standard), Yokohama, Makers mark Samurai Shokai.
Reference Number: A6340
DESCRIPTION
Antique early-20th Century Japanese Meiji period, extensive solid silver eight-piece tea & coffee service on tray, exceptional and magnificent quality. Comprising: a teapot, a coffee pot, a kettle on stand, a creamer, a covered sugar bowl, a tea caddy, a covered entree dish on stand, and a two-handled rectangular tray. Superb quality and double walled, chased, embossed and applied with a twisting water dragon in very high relief, with realistically modelled dragon-form handles and spouts applied with elongated flowing whiskers.
Hallmarked with Japanese silver marks (jungin, meaning pure silver, 1000 standard), Yokohama, Makers mark Samurai Shokai (active 1894-1950). The only other similar set (but, less complete) was sold in Christies, 17 October 2017, New York, result $87,500.
Founded by Japanese businessman Yozo Nomura (1870 - 1965), Samurai Shokai was one of the most famous luxury shops in Japan during the early 20th century. After abandoning his university studies and traveling to America and Europe, Yozo Namura moved back to Yokohama, near Tokyo where he opened a small luxury shop selling not only silver but also jades, lacquerware, silks and porcelain.
The company quickly grew and, to satisfy his international clientele, Nomura became a pioneer in offering a mail order service. Sources of the time reported: “English is spoken in all the departments. Prices are marked in plain figures, and there are no misrepresentations. Purveyors to the Imperial Japanese Household, and to the chief Museums of the world. Wholesale and retail. Manufacturers and exporters. Mail orders a specialty. Recommended.” (T. Phillip Terry, Terry’s Japanese Empire, 1914)
Samurai Shokai exhibited in London at the Anglo-Japanese fair in 1910 gaining further popularity in Europe.
Due to the great Kanto earthquake in 1923, Nomura and his family had to flee Yokohama and were forced to close the business. Nevertheless he managed to quickly rebuild his business and also became the owner of the new Grand Hotel in Yokohama. Yozo Nomura died in 1965.
CONDITION
In Great Condition - No Damage.
SIZE
KETTLE
Height: 35cm
Width: 25 x 18cm
Weight: 1880g
COFFEE POT
Height: 29cm
Width: 25 x 16cm
Weight: 1320g
TEAPOT
Height: 17cm
Width: 28 x 15cm
Weight: 865g
SUGAR BOWL
Height: 12cm
Width: 19 x 12cm
Weight: 520g
TEA CADDY
Height: 15cm
Width: 12cm
Weight: 295g
CREAM JUG
Height: 10cm
Width: 17 x 11cm
Weight: 520g
ENTREE DISH
Height: cm
Width: 27 x 39cm
Weight: 2910g
TRAY
Height: 7cm
Width: 69 x 48cm
Weight: 3350g
