The Kelch Gothic Revival silver service, created in 1900, was one of the finest silver services made by Peter Carl Fabergé. The

silverware Silverware may refer to: * Household silver including **Tableware **Cutlery **Candlesticks *The work of a silversmith * Silverware is also a slang term for a collection of trophies A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achieveme ...

was commissioned by Alexander and Barbara Kelch (Russian: Кельх, Kelkh). Peter Carl Fabergé considered it the most important silver masterpiece made in his workshop; it was also the most expensive. Kelch’s silverware is assumed to have been melted down ''circa'' 1918, following the October Revolution. For the next hundred years, experts of Fabergé had presumed that the tableware was completely destroyed. In 2017, it appeared that items from the service had survived, having been discovered in Poland.

History

The idea for designing the service in the

neo-Gothic style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

was conceived in 1898 along with the rebuilding of the Kelch mansion in Saint Petersburg. The service was intended to complement Barbara Kelch’s Gothic scheme for the new dining room. The tableware was designed in 1900 by the Russian architect Fedor Shekhtel, who cooperated with Fabergé. The tableware was made in 1900 in a Moscow branch of Fabergé's company. Alexander Kelch paid 125,000 rubles for the tableware, which makes it the most expensive Fabergé work that was ever made. Parts of the Kelch’s tableware were presented on the charity exhibition of Fabergé works organized in 1902 in Saint Petersburg in Baron Paul von Dervies' mansion. This was the one and only exhibition of Fabergé works organized in the period of his activity. The exhibition presented Fabergé works belonging to Empresses Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna and family members of the House of Romanov and representatives of the aristocracy. The Kelch’s silver service was the only work shown at this exhibition which didn't belong to the aristocrats, but to a family of rich industrialists. Until 1905 Kelch’s silver tableware was in the Kelch mansion in Saint Petersburg. But that year, as a result of the Kelch couple's separation, the tableware was transported to the Bazanov’s palace in Moscow. After the October Revolution in 1918, the Kelch’s silver service was confiscated and melted down. For one hundred years, until 2017, it was considered to have been completely destroyed, as no parts of the service were known in any Fabergé collection. In January 2017, some pieces of cutlery appearing to come from the neo-Gothic Kelch service surfaced in the art market in Poland.

Description

The Aleksander and Barbara Kelch's representative tableware was made in the

. The style of silver service referred to the style and the décor of the dining room in Kelch mansion in Saint Petersburg. The decoration and

ornament An ornament is something used for decoration. Ornament may also refer to: Decoration * Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts * Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals that appear to serve ...

s used by Fabergé came from the English and German Gothic styles. Motifs of the tableware are stylized

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

tracery, plant ornaments,

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

s, lizards, snakes and other Gothic creatures, fleurs-de-lys, and a crown-topped

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

with a

monogram A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...

in the form of the letter 'K'. The tableware consisted of many dishes and objects, including: a

surtout de table A surtout de table is an ornamental centrepiece displayed on a formal dining table, "a large centerpiece with mirrored plateaus and numerous candelabra and other possible display pieces on top". In French ''surtout de table'' is the usual term for ...

, two seven-arm

candelabra A candelabra (plural candelabras) or candelabrum (plural candelabra or candelabrums) is a candle holder with multiple arms. Although electricity has relegated candleholders to decorative use, interior designers continue to model light fixtures ...

, two high epergnes, soup tureens with lids, platters, bowls, plates, sauce boats,

trays A tray is a shallow platform designed for the carrying of items. It can be fashioned from numerous materials, including silver, brass, sheet iron, paperboard, wood, melamine, and molded pulp. Trays range in cost from inexpensive molded pulp tray ...

, cabarets,

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...

salt cellars A salt cellar (also called a salt, salt-box and a salt pig) is an article of tableware for holding and dispensing salt. In British English, the term is normally used for what in North American English are called salt shakers. Salt cellars can ...

, and more. The medieval dragons were the main motif decorating the tableware, therefore the Kelch’s tableware sometimes referred as the "Fabergé dragon tableware." The crown-topped shield with a monogram in the form of the letter 'K' is also an important motif decorating the objects belonging to the Kelch’s tableware. The pieces were marked with the Fabergé hallmark and the court jeweller hallmark.

References

External links

Video: Fabergé priceless Art Treasure found in Poland
(taken down) {{DEFAULTSORT:Neo-Gothic Alexander and Barbara Kelch's silver service Fabergé 1900 works Silver objects