Early 20th Century Georg Jensen Art Nouveau Style Blossom Sterling Tea Set

The very first of Danish silversmith Georg Jensen’s teapots, the Blossom teapot exemplifies the natural motifs and Japanese influence central to the Art Nouveau movement, which spread across Europe at the turn of the 20th century. Jensen (1866–1935) brought the first Blossom teapot to market in 1905, just a year after founding his eponymous silversmith workshop in Copenhagen. Before finding his calling working in silver, Jensen had trained as a sculptor and ceramicist, studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and going on to work as a modeler in a porcelain factory and later started his own studio. In 1901, though, the designer changed paths, embarking on an apprenticeship with Mogens Ballin, the master silversmith who also had a background as a painter.

This kind of varied artistic background may just be what set Jensen apart: His best work displays a sculptural quality and attention to artful, often ornate, detail. The Blossom teapot epitomizes this, mixing a variety of symbolic design elements for a one-of-a-kind serving piece. Squat and low-slung at just over four inches tall, the teapot stands in contrast to the more slender silhouettes of traditional models. It’s set on “toad’s feet” and topped with a magnolia — not in glorious bloom, but in the hopeful form of a young bud — a flower symbolic in Japanese culture that also acts as a handle. Such a marriage of decoration and functionality speaks to the Art Nouveau ethos of incorporating natural elements wholly into a design and not purely as decoration.

The Blossom teapot also showcases a technique that would become one of Jensen’s trademarks: delicate hammer marks across the surface of the silver, reducing its shine and lending it an organic quality that stands in contrast to the pristine reflective surface of traditional polished-to-perfection tea services.

Georg Jensen continues to manufacture the Blossom teapot today, decades after the death of its founder, with just one notable change: The original teapot featured a handle of carved ivory; bans on the sale of the material prompted a swap to ebony, whose dark hue makes a dramatic contrast to the soft glow of the silver. The Blossom teapot is made by the company’s most skilled silversmiths, who hand-hammer the body, solder the feet and magnolia bud top and attach the handle and spout to precise specification to ensure easy flow of tea. Some things no machine can imitate.

For over a century, Georg Jensen has produced some of the finest objects in Scandinavian modern design, including silver tableware, serving pieces, home decor, jewelry and more, frequently partnering with leading artisans to expand its offerings and respond to shifting tastes. Known for minimal aesthetics that reference nature, the craftsmanship of this legendary Danish silverware firm has regularly married function with thoughtful and beautiful design.

Founder Georg Jensen (1866–1935) was born in the small town of Radvaad, Denmark, and began his training as a goldsmith at 14. After studying sculpture and then training with master silversmith Mogens Ballin, he established his own silver business in Copenhagen in 1904. By 1918, the company was successful enough to open a shop in Paris.

Jensen’s firm produced an incredibly vast range of silver objects, from serving dishes and barware to centerpieces and chandeliers. For his early work, which bore ornate floral details and other organic forms of Art Nouveau, Jensen looked to the splendors of the natural world. The 1905 Blossom teapot, for instance, was topped with a magnolia bud and deftly balanced on toad feet, while some of Jensen’s best-known flatware patterns included Lily of the Valley, introduced in 1913, and Acorn, which debuted in 1915.

Collaboration with outside designers, long before such partnerships were common in design, would lead to some of the company’s most popular and enduring work of the mid-century. Sigvard Bernadotte and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe created collections, as did Henning Koppel, whose curvy 1952 Pregnant Duck pitcher is a Georg Jensen classic.

After evolving and expanding throughout the 20th century, Georg Jensen was acquired by Investcorp in 2012. Today, the company is a global luxury brand with more than 1,000 stores around the world. It continues to produce seductive new pieces, such as a tea service made with Marc Newson in 2015, as well as timeless heritage designs, including the relaunch in 2019 of the 1018 solid sterling-silver Tureen 270. In 2020, the firm introduced the Jardinière 1505. Sculptural and richly decorative, the never-before-realized showpiece is hand-hammered from sheets of the finest sterling silver and is based on a 1915 sketch from Jensen’s archives.

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