posted 12-04-2007 04:56 PM            

If you cannot made this wonderful exhibit a book has been published entitled "Beyond the Maker's Mark - Paul de Lamerie Silver in the Cahn Collection". The author is Ellenor Alcorn with a foreword by Tessa Murdoch.

The photographs in the book are excellent, however nothing is like seeing the silver in person. The Maynard dish and a tureen in the shape of a green turtle are simply spectacular.

posted 12-04-2007 05:27 PM            

quote:

---

Beyond The Maker's Mark: Paul De Lamerie Silver
In The Cahn Collection

This exhibition explores the artistic legacy of Paul de Lamerie, widely recognized as England's most accomplished 18th-century silversmith. More than 40 examples of silver marked by de Lamerie and almost a dozen other London craftsmen are featured in this wonderful exhibition, illustrating the variety, beauty, and complexity of 18th-century English silver.

Paul de Lamerie's career coincided with a period of economic growth, particularly in London, which was the English hub for import and manufacture. In his workshop, de Lamerie produced many types of objects, which he sold in his retail shop along with wares made by other craftsmen.

For his most important commissions, de Lamerie often drew on the talents of highly skilled specialists working in London. These craftsmen were often immigrants who trained in France, Germany, or the Low Countries. They worked in anonymity, producing works for established shops like de Lamerie's.

An artist-craftsman of that description is responsible for creating the extraordinary Maynard Dish featured in the exhibition. Measuring more than two feet in diameter, the dish is ornamented with putti, or cherubs, with naturalistic swags of fruit, flowers, and shells, and with abstract forms. In the center, the elaborate coat of arms represents the Maynard family, particularly Grey Maynard who commissioned the work. This artist remains anonymous, but he is known as the Maynard Master for this stunning piece in the Cahn collection.

Beyond the Maker's Mark: Paul de Lamerie Silver in the Cahn Collection is organized and circulated by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and made possible by the Cahn Family Foundation and FedEx Corporation. It first opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in 2006 and will travel to the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. It is on view in St. Louis October 28, 2007, through January 20, 2008, in the Main Exhibition Galleries. The works of exceptional beauty, rarity, and complexity are from the extraordinary silver collection of St. Louisans Paul and Elissa Cahn.

---

quote:

---

Beyond the Maker's Mark: Paul de Lamerie Silver in the Cahn Collection

Ellenor Alcorn with a foreword by Tessa Murdoch
Edited and Produced by John Adamson
Cambridge, England

128 Pages
11 3/4 by 9 inches
Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0 9524322 6 9
ISBN 13: 978-0-9524322-6-5
$35.00 (available in the Museum Shop)
314.655.5249
debbie.boyer@slam.org

---