After John Flaxman Jr., Mappin & Webb

Edwardian parcel-gilt sterling silver ewer made by Mappin & Webb.

• Ovoid body with leaf festoons, imbricated leaf and berry girdle, and leaf border on stippled ground.
• Foot round, fluted, and beaded leaf-and-dart rim mounted to square base with Greek Key sides.
• Traditional Neoclassicism with all the action concentrated on the top.
• A bearded Triton wraps his arms and scaly, slithering hindquarters around the mouth, gripping the horns of a shaggy dolphin head.
• Rippled aqueous ground.
• Irregular and twisted drapery-style handle with volute terminal.
• Fully marked.

Based on the design by the 18th-century English sculptor John Flaxman. It was originally produced by Josiah Wedgwood in black basalt and jasper stoneware. It fell to the high-living opulent Edwardians to revive it in precious metal.