Isadore V. Friedman Arts & Crafts Hull-House Sterling Silver Compote, Chicago, IL, 1900-1908, 1912-1917

With beautiful proportions and a lovely hammered surface, this rare compote is made from three parts. The bowl is creased at its edge to resemble flower petals, and the 2-part column is seamed at its midpoint, which splays out at the top and forms a lovely broad base with an applied edge. The base features an applied silver 'EH' monogram. 

Isadore V. Friedman was "a young Russian immigrant who studied at Hull-House" and "later became the lead metalwork instructor." (1) Hull-House was established in 1889 and was "a social settlement situated on the west side of Chicago in one of the city's poorest immigrant neighborhoods. Its mission was to provide a center for a higher civic and social life, to institute and maintain educational and philanthropic enterprises... By 1897, Hull-House added popular metalwork to its repertoire." (2)

Hull-House today is known as a center of the Progressive Movement, and its leader, Jane Addams, is considered the founder of the modern field of social work.

Silver made at Hull-House is very rare, as is silver made by Isadore Friedman. This is only the second piece of Friedman's silver we've had.

Provenance: ARK Antiques

Private Collection

Literature: W. Scott Braznell, "The Influence of C. R. Ashbee and his Guild of the Handicraft on American Silver, Other Metalwork, and Jewelry" in Bert Denker, ed., The Substance of Style, (Winterthur: The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1996), illus. p. 31.

This rare compote is marked with Friedman's trademark and 'HULL-HOUSE/ HAND WROUGHT/ STERLING.' It measures 7.5 inches in diameter by 6.25 inches tall, weighs 13.80 troy ounces, and is in excellent antique condition.

Endnotes:

1. Darcy L. Evon, HAND WROUGHT Arts & Crafts Metalwork & Jewelry 1890-1940, (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2013), p. 127.
2. Ibid., 12.