This extraordinary enameled silverplate and crystal dish set by Elkington & Co. exemplifies one of the company's earliest and most celebrated ventures into champlevé enamel work. Inspired by the groundbreaking and visually stunning Graeco-Pompeian dessert service created for the 1862 International Exhibition, the set was designed by Auguste-Adolphe Willms, Elkington's chief designer from 1859. Willms, who previously held prestigious positions at Morel & Co. and Christofle, was awarded a medal at the Exhibition for this exceptional dessert service.

The set's magnificent centerpieces feature exquisitely cut crystal bowls, elevated by colorful and finely crafted pedestals in the refined Pompeian style. The service's design, with its Greek-inspired fan motifs, vine-like swirls and paw feet, seamlessly blends revolutionary innovation with classical elegance.

Elkington & Co., is renowned as one of the finest 19th-century producers of electroplate wares. The company was the earliest English firm to experiment with champlevé enamel, as seen in dish sets like this one. This intricate technique involves carving troughs or cells into a metal plate, which is then filled with pulverized vitreous enamel, while the raised metal lines between the cutouts create the design's outline. Elkington exhibited the 13-piece Graeco-Pompeian dessert service in this pattern at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. The award-winning service was praised by J.B. Waring in his monumental work, Masterpieces of Industrial Art and Sculpture at the International Exhibition of 1862, as “remarkable for unusual elegance of taste in design, a judicious combination of colored enamels with silver, and a degree of artistic finish which are not too often found even in the best works of this class.”

Circa 1864

Small pedestals: 6” high x 7 7/8” diameter
Medium pedestals: 9 7/8” high x 8 1/4” diameter
Large pedestal: 18 1/2” high x 12 3/8” diameter