GENERAL DESCRIPTION
At the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, Gorham Manufacturing Company introduced a limited production line of handwrought wares named Martelé, the French word for "hammered." In the spirit of the British Arts and Crafts movement, each Martelé design was raised, chased, and finished by hand, processes evident in conspicuous hammer marks. While Gorham utilized methods of production based on 19th-century precepts, it rejected styles of the past in favor of a fashion that evoked the new century: Art Nouveau. Chief Designer William C. Codman and other designers applied Art Nouveau details, such as exuberant handles and everted feet and lips with undulating edges, and decorations, such as organic ornament, to traditional forms at once progressive, yet palatable to conservative American consumers.
By 1910, demand for Martelé had declined due to prohibitive prices and changes in dining rituals. As a result, Gorham minimized costs, particularly hours of labor, in order to decrease prices and thus increase sales. In the case of this entree dish, the factory cost was $105 and the retail price was $210, considerably less than what a comparable piece would have fetched around 1900.
Adapted from
- Charles L. Venable, Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art; New York, New York; Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994), 251-258.
- DMA unpublished material.
- Samuel J. Hough, "Report on Gorham Martelé 14-inch Entrée Dish UEL" (undated, in Collections Records Object File)
NOTES
TMS Updates - GeoXrefs - place of origin, retailed in, birth adn work location for George Sauthof - JBA (10/19/2017)
formatted, added image, updated sources - 8/30 (JBA)
I updated the title of the object in TMS to include the acute accent mark and carets to indicate italics.
I removed techniques from the Medium fields in TMS. Techniques are listed as tags.
I edited, updated, or entered the Provenance, Exhibition History, and Bibliography fields in TMS.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1910: Spaulding & Co., Chicago, Illinois [1]
Until 1991: The Oberod Collection, Centerville, Delaware [2]
From 1991: Dallas Museum of Art, anonymous gift
[1] 1991.32 engraved with the following inscription: SPAULDING & CO / CHICAGO. See also Samuel Hough, "Report on Gorham Martelé PCX" (undated, in Collections Records Object File).
[2] See Collections Records Digital Object File.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
YouTube~Watch a video about Gorham Manufacturing Company
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1991.35
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
At the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, Gorham Manufacturing Company introduced a limited production line of handwrought wares named Martelé, the French word for "hammered." In the spirit of the British Arts and Crafts movement, each Martelé design was raised, chased, and finished by hand, processes evident in conspicuous hammer marks. While Gorham utilized methods of production based on 19th-century precepts, it rejected styles of the past in favor of a fashion that evoked the new century: Art Nouveau. Chief Designer William C. Codman and other designers applied Art Nouveau details, such as exuberant handles and everted feet and lips with undulating edges, and decorations, such as organic ornament, to traditional forms at once progressive, yet palatable to conservative American consumers.
By 1910, demand for Martelé had declined due to prohibitive prices and changes in dining rituals. As a result, Gorham minimized costs, particularly hours of labor, in order to decrease prices and thus increase sales. In the case of this entree dish, the factory cost was $105 and the retail price was $210, considerably less than what a comparable piece would have fetched around 1900.
Adapted from
- Charles L. Venable, Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art; New York, New York; Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994), 251-258.
- DMA unpublished material.
- Samuel J. Hough, "Report on Gorham Martelé 14-inch Entrée Dish UEL" (undated, in Collections Records Object File)
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
TMS Updates - GeoXrefs - place of origin, retailed in, birth adn work location for George Sauthof - JBA (10/19/2017)
formatted, added image, updated sources - 8/30 (JBA)
I updated the title of the object in TMS to include the acute accent mark and carets to indicate italics.
I removed techniques from the Medium fields in TMS. Techniques are listed as tags.
I edited, updated, or entered the Provenance, Exhibition History, and Bibliography fields in TMS.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1910: Spaulding & Co., Chicago, Illinois [1]
Until 1991: The Oberod Collection, Centerville, Delaware [2]
From 1991: Dallas Museum of Art, anonymous gift
[1] 1991.32 engraved with the following inscription: SPAULDING & CO / CHICAGO. See also Samuel Hough, "Report on Gorham Martelé PCX" (undated, in Collections Records Object File).
[2] See Collections Records Digital Object File.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1991.35
source file
object_notes_2_b-0037.xml.nores