Meriden Silver - Centrepiece - Silvered bronze - Lion Display

It is a centerpiece that embodies that American 19th-century silversmithing, where Meriden’s quadruple plate reached its best expression: a dense, almost lunar shine that depends not only on the metal plating but also on the quality of the support and the thickness of the coating. Here, that deep silvering serves as a backdrop for a sculptural composition that does not settle for being decorative; it aims to be narrative.

Two facing lions, upright on their hind legs, hold with their tense bodies the central structure. They are not merely symbolic figures: they are modeled with an almost theatrical energy, the manes in motion, the jaws slightly open, the gesture of solemn guard. Each rests on an ornate base with scrolls and small vegetal motifs, as if emerging from a pedestal reinterpreted in Baroque style in the American Victorian manner.

Between them opens the circular, slightly recessed cup, designed to receive a bowl, a cup, or a floral ornament. The edge of the plate is worked with a repertoire of curves, swirls, and tiny crests that recall the historicist taste of the era: a blend of classicism and fantasy that Meriden mastered with ease. The quadruple plate action accentuates every relief, creating soft contrasts between the polished areas and the shadows formed in the crevices of the design.

The piece as a whole conveys nobility and theatricality, as if it were a small domestic altar dedicated to abundance or to protective strength. It is an object that speaks not only of Meriden’s technical refinement but also of the symbolic imagination of the 19th century, where heraldic animals became protagonists of the decoration.

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