The art nouveau movement became a new and popular way of looking at many things in the late 19th century, including architecture, sculpture, jewelry, and items commonly found in homes of the time, such as lamps and works of silver. Household goods were no longer limited by their function, but instead evolved into works of art and beauty that served a functional purpose, blurring the line between fine and applied arts. Graceful lines and motifs from nature, such as birds, plants, and flowers, are hallmarks of art nouveau silver. Another distinguishing feature is the marriage of aesthetics and functionality.
The Gorham Manufacturing Company’s art nouveau silver items from the 1880s, for example, demonstrate the influence of the new style on both the manufacturing process and the items produced. Gorham’s silver pieces were uniform and mass produced before the rise of art nouveau. As the movement gained traction, the company began to produce art nouveau silver pieces that were less like products and more like works of usable art, each one unique and handcrafted. Silver art nouveau jewelry, jewelry cases, letter openers, tea sets, tureens, loving cups, and other items for the home and personal use were created by Gorham and other companies of the time.
The pieces required a lot of fine craftsmanship because they were so stylized. Some of the more intricate and time-consuming silver items took nearly 100 hours to complete. Silversmiths working in the art nouveau style mostly used two techniques: chasing and repoussé, and they frequently combined the two. Chasing required the silversmith to hammer the silver into the desired shapes from the front while using the repoussé technique to work on the silver from the back.
Additional motifs found on art nouveau silver include a lot of scrollwork, the female form with long and wavy hair, animals, dragonflies, fairies, and angels, as well as combinations of nature and fantasy. Everything from silver hairbrushes and lint brushes to cigarette holders, button hooks, thimble holders, and ink wells featured these motifs. Some of the more unusual items, such as a sterling silver repoussé cigarette case with a full-figured female nude on the front piece, leaned toward the erotic.