Silver nut or bon bon dish

Mappin & Webb - Sheffield 1894
 
This little dish with its fluted edge and cute ball feet is designed to look like a leaf from the natural world. The handle at the back allows you to offer it someone and comes from a time when entertaining and manners were paramount. 
It is the height of late Victorian style, the heavy decoration of previous decades is giving way to the elegance of the coming Edwardians. Mappin & Webb still hold a Royal Warrant to provide The Queen with silver items. 
 
Condition: Excellent condition, some minor surface wear.