The French gastronome Charpentiere once described the dining table as a “landscape for the imagination”, undulating with dishes and candelabrum instead of hills and trees. The serving platters and tureens would often be part of a central statement of the host’s “theme” for the evening’s banquet.
Comyns is very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work in a number of styles and different periods of history. Part of one of Comyns’ amazing banqueting services was its creation of a “seafood extravaganza” with the extraordinary Crab and Lobster serving dishes in sterling silver and lavishly enhanced interior dish with 24k gold.
The original crab and lobster serving dishes were made for a client in New York who had 12 individual “servers” made for 12 fortunate diners who sat and ate no less than 10 separate seafood courses, each served in individual containers at a banquet which lasted more than 8 hours, the time allocated for the ice sculptures to melt.
Like all Comyns pieces, attention to detail is of paramount importance. Meticulously sculpted and hand chased, the proportions of these serving dishes are precise and the claws articulate to give a lifelike feel to the dishes to achieve accurate replicas of the crustaceans.
The lid of the crab hinges back to reveal the ocean feast within. The serving spoon for both the crab and lobster is a reproduction of a Paul De Lamerie spoon from 1730 period combining a half clam shell and a coral stem handle.
A unique and spectacular way to impress your guests, the Crab and Lobster serving dishes are a real joy to behold.
Made of sterling silver and crafted by Comyns artisans through traditional English methods of silversmithing, every creation of Comyns carries four hallmarks to certify its quality; the William Comyns hallmark, the purity of silver content, the assay office mark and the date letter or year of assay.
