This basket sits right at the crossover point between two design languages: it's dated to the Edwardian period, but decorated throughout in Art Nouveau's flowing, organic style, a combination that turns up often enough on Sheffield silverware from this window that it's less a contradiction than a genuine snapshot of the era's overlapping tastes. The oval body is pierced with scrolling openwork, fluted along the rim, and the swing handle picks up the same fluted treatment, tying handle and body together rather than treating them as separate design decisions.
Four ball feet raise the whole piece slightly off the table, giving it a bit more presence than a flat-bottomed basket would manage, and the piercing throughout keeps the design light rather than heavy despite the amount of decorative work involved. Made in Sheffield around the 1910's, it's a good example of how far Art Nouveau's visual vocabulary had spread into everyday domestic silverware by the time the style itself was already starting to give way to Art Deco elsewhere.
Condition notes
Good antique condition. Wear to silvering inside the bowl commensurate with age and use.
