Frans Gyllenberg and Alfred Swanson Arts & Crafts Sterling Silver Sandwich Tray, Boston, c. late 1920s

This wonderful handmade sandwich tray is an important example of arts and crafts silver from Boston. Hand raised, with a drawn and applied ring foot and border at the rim, the design features two opposing hand-pierced colonial-style 'keyhole' porringer handles applied to the rim. Boston arts and crafts silver regularly featured colonial decoration and in this case the decoration has been adapted to a new form.

An identical sandwich tray can be found in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It is pictured and discussed in detail by Scott Braznell in The Art That is Life: The Art and Crafts Movement in America 1875-1920 by Wendy Kaplan et al. on pages 180-181. Braznell lucidly argues that the creative adaptation of colonial designs to current uses was one of the most important traits in Boston arts and crafts silver.

Gyllenberg, originally from Sweden, is one of only seven silversmiths to be elected a 'Medalist Craftsman,' the highest honor bestowed by the venerable Society of Arts & Crafts in Boston. This tray was made by Frans Gyllenberg and Alfred Swanson, in partnership, after 1926.

This tray is marked with Gyllenberg and Swanson marks along with 'STERLING/ 529.' It measures 14.25  inches across the handles and 1 1/4 inches high. It weighs 15.50 troy ounces and has never been monogrammed. It is in very good antique condition.