Arthur Stone Arts & Crafts Sterling Silver Bowl, Gardner, Mass, c. 1918

This bowl is an exceptional example of work from the Gardner, Massachusetts shop of Arthur Stone. The surface sparkles with a shimmering hammered finish which Stone's shop excelled at. Rising out of the body are four chased flowers.

The border and base exhibit some of the finest work by Stone's hand that we have ever seen. Intricately chased and pierced grapevine encircle the top of the bowl and flare outwards at the base. Incorporated into the rim are four reserves with hammered finishes which have never been monogrammed.

This wonderful design is very similar to a coffee set designed by Stone for one of his best customers, George G. Booth. Although his service, now in the collection of the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is inlaid with gold grapes, the grapevine design and raised flowers strikingly similar. (See Arthur J. Stone 1847-1938 Designer and Silversmith by Elenita Chickering, cat. 112. Also see cat. 111 for similarly decorated candlesticks also made for Booth.)

This rare bowl is marked underneath with Stones mark #84 pictured on page 184 in the Chickering book. It is also marked 'STERLING and with e letter 'T'. The 'T' denotes Herbert A. Taylor raised the piece, which Stone then decorated himself. Taylor was one of only eight silversmiths who achieved the honor of 'Medalist' within the Boston Society of Arts & Crafts. He worked for Stone in 1908 and later. The bowl measures 7.5 inches wide by 3.25 inches inches high, weighs 14.95 troy ounces and is in excellent antique condition.