BY ELKINGTON & CO., BIRMINGHAM, CIRCA 1876

Albert Willms, a Parisian who also worked for the metalsmiths Christofle, Froment-Meurice and Paillard, was head of the Elkington's design studio from 1859 until the end of the century. In 1876, Elkington showed a group of cloisonné enameled ornaments at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition (Contributions to the International Exhibition at Philadelphia 1876, Londoll, 1876). The enamels, designed in the Egyptian taste with the advice of Christopher Dresser, were lauded by the public, but their manufacture was later abandoned by Elkington due to high production costs. The coat-of-arms on this centrepiece, with the Latin motto translating to "A little is increased by degrees" represents the Williamson family, originally of Hutchinfield, Scotland (B. Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, London 1984).