Late nineteenth century electro-plated waiters cost around a quarter of the price of their sterling silver counterparts and were practically indistinguishable from them at first glance. This also applied to large tea trays with moulded handles which were handsomely decorated with rococo-style rim patterns and surface ornament. It is hardly surprising, then, that electro-plated trays appeared so numerously in homes everywhere. They were a direct descendant of the tazza, a fashionable seventeenth century piece with an approximate diameter of 12 inches, which declined in popularity after about 1715-20. These small trays, usually with a central depression and often of heavy silver, stood upon a central foot. They might be decorated with embossing and chasing or engraving, or with a crest in the centre, gadrooning around the foot and edge of the rim being very usual. Sometimes they were plain. They were gradually superseded by the waiter, which had three or four moulded decorative feet instead of the single stem, and which might be used by servants to proffer small objects, usually being made in sets of varying numbers. The larger salver was similarly employed.

Antique Collector MagazineThe rims of eighteenth century waiters and salvers are of particular importance because these were of great decorative appeal, sometimes consisting of up to ten ornate curved sections. Square or rectangular examples during the 1720s would have decoratively-shaped rounded corners. Circular salvers became popular from the 1730s and featured beautiful, moulded pie-crust rims consisting of several sections which were decorated with rococo shells and gadrooning, resembling the pie-crust borders on tripod tables, although the salvers generally preceded the tables. Others were variously shaped. Until the middle of the century these separately-moulded borders were produced concurrently with hand-raised rims in decoratively-shaped outlines which might also be enriched with applied borders consisting of small, ornate castings of rococo motifs such as shells, scrolls, masks and vine leaves. Hand-raised decoration would be enriched by piercing and embossing. The period is notable for this fine work which continued until the neo-classical influence made itself felt. By the 1760s a less positive type of decoration had appeared, sometimes with gadrooning on the rims and with inner borders of classical motifs including swags and wheat-ears. The extravagant rims of the rococo period then disappeared until the revival of this style early in the nineteenth century, but the original perfection was never again achieved.

The silver tea tray was an important part of tea equipage. It was of an adequate size to hold the numerous items required for the infusion of tea and might be anything up to around two feet in diameter, raised upon four decorative feet and similar to smaller versions, being likewise mass-produced towards the later years of the eighteenth century. An elliptical shape became popular at this time and rims included those which were applied and strengthened with beading. Others were ornately pierced and often decorated with classical motifs. Hand grips also becamegeneral.

By the time George IV ascended the throne the rectangular tray was in fashion, usually adorned with a generous amount of chasing. Victorian examples, made in sterling silver, Sheffield plate and electro-plate, were lavishly decorated with an agglomeration of ornament. The work of the nineteenth century designer and sculptor, Alfred Stevens, who produced designs for both silver and electro-plate, can be typified by his tray with a rim of scrolls, acanthus leaves and rams’ heads, which incorporated an ovolo border. Within this enthusiastically-applied decoration were more visual feasts in the form of richly-engraved strapwork and stylised foliage. An electro-plated version, made by Thomas Bradbury and Sons of Sheffield in 1856, is in the possession of the Victoria and Albert Museum,London.

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Miscellaneous Silver (Tazzas, salvers, waiters and trays)