Dining at Home

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Designed by Gundorph Albertus (1887-1969) during his tenure as deputy director at Georg Jensen Silversmithy, where he oversaw quality-control of finished products [1] the present tea and coffee service embraces the traditions that Georg Jensen used to establish his firm while advancing the craftsmanship and aesthetic of the Jensen firm into the modern age of silver and Danish design.

Albertus joined the Jensen firm in 1911 as a chaser following an education at the Royal Danish Academy of Arts and some early work as a silver smith in Southern Germany and France. He further tied himself to the firm through his marriage to Georg Jensen’s sister Inger in 1919 [2]. Familial loyalty aside, Albertus established himself as a skillful and meticulous craftsman on the global stage, earning a gold medal at the Paris World Exhibition in 1925 [3] and introducing designs like Cactus pattern and Mitra into the silversmith’s oeuvre that continue in production into the 21st century.

The featured tea and coffee service, made between 1933 and 1944 shows the reverence for the forms that established Jensen’s firm in the early 20th century while advancing the design into the modern era. The profuse organic forms that early 20th century Jensen articles exhibit are reduced but still present. The handles on the top of the hot water kettle terminate in foliate forms that echo the foliate decoration on the earlier Blossom pattern. The surface still retains characteristic hand-hammered finish of the Jensen firm; but the decoration has otherwise been removed from the objects in the service. The forms are plain, but elegant; surely a harbinger of the modern era that would follow in the 20th century [4].

Designed and executed during Albertus’ tenure at Jensen, it is nearly certain that his own hand played a role in the creation of this tea and coffee service. The sophisticated design pushes ornamentation into the functional realm and thus ushers in the mid-century modernist movement that would come to exemplify not only Georg Jensen silver but Danish design to the world.

1. Faber, Monique and Thulstrup, Thomas C., Georg Jensen: A Tale of Danish Silver. Muset På Koldinghus. Kolding, Denmark. 2015. Pp. 78.

2. Hickman, Ronald O. ed., Georg Jensen Silver. Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego. Arts and Crafts Press. 1968. Pp. 11.

3. Herman, Lloyd E. ed., Georg Jensen Silversmithy: 77 Artists, 75 Years. Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Fine Arts. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington D.C.. 1980

4. Taylor, David A. and Laskey, Jason W., Georg Jensen Hollware: The Silver Fund Collection. Snoeck-Ducaju and Zoon. Belgium. 2003. Pp. 178.