Welcome to the first week of Advent, we invite you to share the joyful four-week Scandinavian celebration which heralds the holiday season. Traditions include lighting a candle on the Advent wreath each of the four weeks before Christmas, while preparations include a myriad of baked goods and warm glögg.

This year we encourage you to integrate antiques into your holiday entertaining. We have gathered a selection of elegant and useful tableware to help add character, beauty and history to your festivities. Seamlessly weaving antiques into your holiday entertaining elevates your gathering to create a cultural experience. Adorn your spaces with antique decorations and enjoy engaging conversations with your guests by highlighting the history and stories around these unique and useful objects.

Berlin topographical cabinet cup, painted with a view of Dresden with promenading figures, with gilt interior, bottom marked with blue underglaze sceptre Berlin mark, German circa 1820. Size in inches: 2.75 h x 3 d. E19139

*Russian lacquered box, circa 1900, hinge lid inscribed with maker's mark. Size in inches: 1 ½ h x 5 w x 3 ¼ d. M18682*

*George III square mahogany and inlay single tea caddy, decorated with circular inlay and rope stringing with remnants of tin lining, English circa 1790. Size in inches: 4 ¾ h x 5 w x 5 d. M20977*

Tea caddies held a dual role as both functional containers for preserving prized tea leaves and as decorative symbols of refinement and status. These meticulously crafted containers, often featuring elaborate designs and luxurious materials, served to protect tea from air and moisture, maintaining its freshness. Beyond their practical use, tea caddies became focal points of social rituals, embodying the art of custom tea blending and adding a ceremonial touch to the act of preparing and serving tea. Royalty and nobility often enlisted skilled craftsmen to create stunning examples incorporating rare materials including tortoiseshell and exotic hardwoods such as walnut, rosewood, and fruitwood, often adorned with gold, silver, or horn. Owning an ornate tea caddy signified not only a commitment to preserving the quality of tea but also an appreciation for the aesthetics of tea-drinking, contributing to the overall sophistication and elegance of 19th century social customs.

*Carved wooden snuff in the form of an oriental shoe, 19th century. Size in inches: 1.25h x 3w. M16275*

Snuff is a powdered tobacco flavoured with aromatic spices which is sniffed, or ‘snuffed’ into the nasal cavity.

The name came from the shortened form of the Dutch word snuftabak, from the root words meaning sniff and tobacco. As addictive as smoking but without the smoke, snuff was thought to be more medicinal and thus more moral to use. Snuff originated with tobacco in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the seventeenth century.

Snuff varied enormously depending on its source. Chinese snuff came from the provinces of Shandong, Sichuan, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, while the prized snuff came from Spain, France, and Scotland, with the most highly regarded of all, Brazil.

*Japanese carved wooden figure of dog and rabbit, with silver pipe tamper hallmarked "IM" and with initials "B" and "E". Size in inches: 3.25. J21155*

Miniature Victorian style mahogany chest of drawers, complete with bone escutcheons, dentil cornice above three long and two short drawers, on bun feet, possibly American, circa 1880. Size in inches: 15 h x 12 w x 7d. A20621

Georg Jensen (Danish 1866 - 1935)

Born in 1866, Georg Jensen apprenticed as a knife grinder with his father before pursuing a career in sculpting. He studied at the Danish Royal Academy, graduating at the age of 25 and exhibiting at the Charlottenborg Exhibition in 1883. Turning his attention to the applied arts, he worked as a modeler at the Bing & Grøndahl porcelain factory and founded a small pottery workshop with a friend in 1898. He was awarded a travel grant by the Danish Academy and spent two years touring the art centers of France and Italy which exposed him to the Art Nouveau movement. This greatly influenced his work and developed his ambition to fuse beauty and function into his creations.

In 1904, Jensen opened his own small silversmithy in Copenhagen. The same year, he exhibited his silverwork for the first time at the Museum of Decorative Art in Copenhagen - the exhibition was an immediate success and helped launch his business. Producing primarily jewellery in the early years, Jensen’s intention was to create affordable art for the middle classes while emphasizing the value of handmade craftsmanship over mass-produced goods. Jensen’s workshop gained a reputation for having a friendly, democratic atmosphere that was conducive to collaboration, with a feeling of solidarity among the staff. Sales steadily grew and often pieces would sell out.

A pair of sterling silver candle snuffers 95, each bears impressed hallmarks for Georg Jensen design 95, Georg Jensen hallmark date 1933-44 and 925S, inscribed "L.S.K.-E.B.K. 1941". Size in inches: 1.25 h. C20688

The Georg Jensen line continued to expand throughout Europe and worldwide. Jensen’s reputation in the US was propelled by his solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1921, which was accompanied by an English language book. This led to the opening of a retail shop, and the American market loved his sophisticated, simple yet decorative pieces so much that they were in great demand. The company continued to thrive and by the end of the 1920s, Jensen had retail outlets in New York, London, Paris, Stockholm, and Berlin.

The success of the business life was unfortunately overshadowed by the deaths of three of Jensen’s four wives in 1892, 1897 and the third from Spanish Influenza in 1918. The last decade of Jensen’s life was lined with professional accolades, although he grew increasingly alienated from the firm. He was awarded the Grand Prix at the Paris World’s Fair in 1925, the 1929 World’s Fair in Barcelona, and again in 1935 at the World’s Fair in Brussels. He was the only silversmith outside Great Britain to exhibit at the Goldsmith’s Hall in 1932. Georg Jensen passed away in 1935 at the age of 69.

Sterling silver comport 235C, designed by Georg Jensen, bears impressed hallmarks to underside Georg Jensen 925S Sterling Denmark, with Georg Jensen hallmark date circa 1917 and for Georg Jensen design 235C, inscribed "L.S.K.-E.B.a. 25-12 1940". Size in inches: 2.25 h x 3 w x 2.4 d. C20684

*‘Notre Dame Church at Historic Place D'armes, Notre Dame Street, Montreal, P.Q.’ Size in inches: 2 x 2 ½ (with frame 2 ½ x 3) J20168*

Willard Mitchell was born in Saint John, New Brunswick and was active in Montreal as an artist and architect from 1927 to 1943.

Working in oil, watercolour and ink, he is known for his miniature landscapes and streetscapes of rural Quebec and Montreal. He carved his own frames and often placed a brief note on the back of the framed scenes. His watercolours were well done and were well received, often as popular gifts.

Mitchell travelled to Nova Scotia, Italy and Greece and exhibited with the Art Association of Montreal in 1927 and 1928. He died at the age of 74 and was survived by his wife Ethel Corinna Harris Mitchell.

‘Fuscia 1927' colour woodcut, signed lower right "W J Phillips"
This print was produced as the 1927 Christmas greeting. A mailing list in one of Phillips’ notebooks indicates that he sent a little over 100 cards that year. Size in inches:
*4 ¾ h x 3 w in (with frame 15 h x 12 w) ZJ21046*

Every year starting in approximately 1920, Walter J Phillips and his wife Gladys would send out an un-editioned colour woodcut as their Christmas card.

Fuchsia, 1927, was the 1927 Christmas greeting and from notes approximately 100 were produced.

Chinese white jade carved melon form snuff bottle, carved as a melon with incised ribs and leaf on side, well hollowed, with later jadeite and glass stopper, on carved wooden stand, 18th century. Size in inches: 2 1/4" (2 1/2" with stopper, 3" with base) x 1 1/2" diameter. D21078

Although smoking tobacco was illegal in China during the Qing dynasty, snuff was permitted, as it was considered a remedy for common illnesses such as colds and stomach ailments.

Originally produced only for the Emperor, it eventually spread from the court through the upper class and by the end of the 17th century and through the 18th century had become part of social ritual. Like other medicines, snuff was transported in small bottles. Under the moist conditions in many areas of Asia, the early formal European style snuff box with its hinged lid could not impede the humid air from spoiling the dry goods inside. Chinese snuff bottles, with their narrow-stoppered mouths, were superior in mitigating the damaging effects of moisture on the snuff.

Snuff bottles became exquisite works of art representing status and wealth, and were made from many fine materials including ivory, horn, porcelain, precious metals, fine woods, glass and a wide variety of semi-precious stones including jade.