Elkington Silver Plate and Partial Gilt Venus Rosewater Dish

Product Details

Elkington silver plate and partial gilt  hanger, known as the Charger Of The Temperance Basin / The Rosewater Dish, made by the silver firm of Elkington & Co. of Birmingham, England, circa 1880.  Elkington produced versions of this charger in both sterling silver and silver plate.

This fine Victorian Rosewater Dish, in silver plate and partial gilt is a slight variation in design to the Ladies Wimbledon Trophy *.  This trophy is also known as “Rosewater Dish" or "Venus Rosewater Dish".  The surface of this dish is decorated with cast designs in relief with its central plaque depicting a figure of Temperance holding a wine-cup and ewer, with the Latin word “Temperantia”.  The Temperance Basin is one of the most copied and adapted artworks from the Renaissance period. The original cast pewter dish was designed circa 1585 by the French model carver and medallist, François Briot.

The charger is in very good condition and has had a soft soldered hook added to the back so it can be hung without plate hanger hooks showing.

15 1/2” (39.4cm) diameter.

Reign Props - Used as a prop in the TV series Reign Season 2,3,4. The link opens on a new window.

*The Wimbledon trophy was first won in 1886. The Ladies' Singles Trophy is a sterling silver salver and made by the firm of Elkington and Company of Birmingham in 1864. The reproduction of the basin was made by the electrical deposition of silver into a mould, and used the plaster cast of an Enderlein basin in the Louvre as a model. When it was first created, the Wimbledon reproduction represented the height of 19th century modernity and was at the forefront of technological innovation. The V & A has an electrotype version which was also made by Elkington, and was moulded from the same plaster cast, 12 years before the creation of the Wimbledon trophy.

* An excellent article is available on the Venus Rosewater dish / Wimbledon trophy on the Victoria & Albert Museum website blog, from 2015.