Although silver baskets are known from the late sixteenth century (1597 earliest known)and a few are known from the seventeenth century it was not really until the 1730s that the cake or bread basket starts to make its appearance and slightly later to this it’s much smaller brother the sweet or bonbon basket started to become popular.
The earliest baskets are generally magnificent creations of rococo silverware with exotic cast work ,fine hand chasing,and tend to be beautifully engraved with the original owners armorials.It must be noted that virtually all eighteenth century baskets have handles to make it easier for the butler to serve.By the 1770s both the cake and the smaller sweet baskets are fashioned in a lighter form often using neo-classical motifs and fine engraving.In the 1790’s the baskets are often much plainer and by the early part of the nineteenth century baskets are now being made more commonly in a rectangular shape (rather than the earlier slightly shaped or oval baskets)either quite plain or with decorative ornament.By the early 1800s the sweet basket seems to disappear (and then returns by 1880)while it’s larger brother is being made in an ever expanding range of styles and shapes and often by the 1880’s made without handles.
At William Walter Antiques we have a very fine selection of the earliest baskets by such famous silversmiths as Edward Aldridge,Samuel Herbert and the Bateman family right up to baskets of the modern era which often copy earlier styles.
