A rare matching Dutch silver tea service, Onder den St. Maarten Zaltbommel, Haarlem 1904 and C.J. Begeer, Utrecht, 1908-9

of bulbous form, fluted between a swirling engraving, comprising; a tea pot on stand with burner, a covered sugar bowl and a cream jug, all marked with designer's mark of Onder den St. Maarten and with date letter 1904; the matching parts in similar outline, comprising: a hot water kettle on stand with burner, a tea caddy and a spoon stand, all fully marked C.J. Begeer, Utrecht, 1908-1909  (15) 

This rare Dutch silver tea service consists of two separate parts. The first part made in Haarlem in 1904, comprises: the teapot on stand with burner, the sugar bowl, and the milk jug. These parts were manufactured in the workshop Onder den Sint Maarten and were most probably designed by Johannes Cornelis Stoffels (1878-1952). The workshop Onder den Sint Maarten was founded around 1900-1901 by Johan Adam Pool (1872-1945), born in Zaltbommel. He was a contemporary of Anton Frederik Philips (1874-1951), who also lived in Zaltbommel during his childhood. Pool named the firm after its location near the tower of the Sint Maartenskerk in Zaltbommel. The firm focussed on hand-made and well-designed modern arts & craft objects in the rational style of the Amsterdam firm ‘t Binnenhuis of Berlage c.s. In 1902, Pool moved the firm towards Haarlem and its focus towards machine-made products to meet the demand of a broader public. Between 1903 and 1906, J. C. Stoffels (1878-1952), being a silversmith himself, designed a range of metal ware, lamps and clocks in a rational style inspired by designs of J. Eisenloeffel (1876-1957). Hardly any objects of Onder den Sint Maarten are known to have been executed in silver. The hitherto unpublished service offered for sale echoes the work of Stoffels’ in the finely chased stylised ornaments of graduated circles which are typical features of Stoffels’s designs, as well as in the decorative use of constructive elements such as rivets, which were the trade mark of Eisenloeffel. A fruit bowl and a dish with a similar decoration of graduated circles were made in copper and designed by Stoffels in 1904/5 for the firm Sint Maarten, see Exh. Cat., Drents Museum, Johannes Cornelis Stoffels 1887-1952, Assen, 2001, p. 44. It seems that the service was specially made for Anton and his wife Anna Henriëtte, who ordered it from craftsmen and designers of Zaltbommel origin.

The second part comprises the hot water kettle on stand with burner, the tea caddy and the spoon stand. They are from a later date, 1908-1909, but match perfectly well with the pieces made by Onder den Sint Maarten. The items mentioned above bear the marks of the firm of C.J. Begeer. He was one of the first designers of silver in The Netherlands to experiment with the emerging modern style in Dutch decorative arts around 1900. Around 1908, just after the moving of Mr and Mrs Philips, they probably wanted to extend their original tea set by Onder de Sint Maarten. As Stoffels had already left the firm, they contacted Begeer to add items in the same style. This contact was probably very fruitful, as can be proven by the tazza, which was ordered a year later (lot number. 410). C.J. Begeer’s large silverworks did a wonderful job in copying the style of the original tea service, which makes the complete service a fine example of Dutch Art Nouveau.