Silver and Porcelain

ISilver and porcelain are a collection you may hold

The curved-glass display cabinet holds the silver and porcelain. Its back is not mirrored but wooden, receiving the white light of metal and the colours of porcelain with warmth. The butler opens the doors and chooses a cup, a plate or a set to suit the scene of the day.

The value lies not only in admiring named pieces from afar. To feel the weight in the hand, to see the gilded rim up close, to know the butler's hands setting silver down without a sound: this Manor returns its collection to the realm of manner. The moving and putting away of delicate pieces is left to the butler.

From display to use

When the butler opens the doors, the collection returns to the life of the Manor.

IIChristofle Marly inherits the name of a royal retreat

Christofle, founded in Paris in 1830, is a great name in silversmithing that has supplied the French court and embassies around the world. The Marly pattern takes its name from the Château de Marly, the retreat Louis XIV built to escape the bustle of Versailles.

The Manor's collection is twelve pieces for six: table spoon, fork and knife, the same three for dessert, fish knife and fork, and, in addition, consommé spoon, butter knife, ice-cream spoon and hors d'oeuvre fork.

What we value at the Manor is guiding you beyond the number, "a full set of twelve for six", to the form and role of each piece.

The splendour of Marly in the relief of the handle

Shell and scroll motifs cast fine shadows beneath white-gloved fingertips.

IIIThe twelve pieces differ in tip and length

Even within the Marly pattern, the shape of the tip, the width and the length differ by role. The fish knife and fork, the rounded consommé spoon, the small ice-cream spoon. The butler lays them in a row so that the shared pattern and the differing functions may be compared.

If you hesitate at table, there is no need to remember every name. Rather than reciting rules such as working from the outside in, learn why the pair before you has that shape. The butler watches your hands and, only when needed, quietly indicates the next piece.

The manner of choosing is part of the collection

Male and female butlers alike keep metal from touching metal, quiet even in sound.

IVLimoges is the origin; Bernardaud and Legle are the makers

Limoges is a porcelain-making region of France. The Manor holds Bernardaud Volubilis and plates by LIMOGES LEGLE. Separating the name of the origin from the name of the maker makes the explanation clear.

LIMOGES LEGLE is a 25 cm plate in cobalt blue with real gilding. Though both bear the name of Limoges, the softness of a floral pattern and the contrast of deep blue and gold create different expressions on the table. The butler does not rely on the backstamp alone, but guides you by colour, rim and diameter together.

Within one place of origin, differing designs

Even among Limoges, checking pattern, colour and dimensions reveals the character of each plate.

VIn Wedgwood, look for turquoise and the griffin

In the lineage of English porcelain, the Manor holds WEDGWOOD Florentine Turquoise. Teapot, sugar bowl, creamer, cup and saucer share the vivid turquoise and the motif of the griffin, the eagle-lion.

As a charger there is also WEDGWOOD Columbia Turquoise, 34 cm. Florentine and Columbia both carry the brand name and the word turquoise, but they are not the same pattern. The butler never abbreviates the name, adding the type of piece and its dimensions to prevent confusion.

The name of a colour does not make the pattern the same

Florentine and Columbia: each proper pattern name is confirmed.

VIEnglish porcelain and Japanese white porcelain, compared at the table

Among the English porcelain are six Royal Albert Heirloom cups and saucers, and Royal Doulton Carlyle bread plates, dessert plates, and demitasse cups and saucers. As the types of piece differ by maker, we look not only at the number but at which forms are present.

As chargers, there are the Okura Art China Ruri Kinshoku Budo, 30 cm, and WEDGWOOD Columbia Turquoise, 34 cm. A Japanese white porcelain plate layered with lapis blue and etched gold, and an English plate, set at two places. Rather than pitting one origin against another, the setting invites you to compare the two scenes made by colour, the placing of gold and diameter.

Learn the type of piece along with the name

Cup, saucer, plate, pot. Each gives the collection its outline.

VIIThe silver tea service is seen as a set, in form and light

The F.B. Rogers silver tea service is a five-piece Victorian-style silver-plate set, with pot, sugar bowl, creamer and more, together with its tray. The point is to see it not as single vessels but as a set that receives the sequence of pouring, adding and carrying.

The glassware is sorted by form: Cristal D'Arques diamond-cut with gold rims, Chef & Sommelier balloon glasses for red and 250 ml tulip glasses for white, and OPEN UP Effervescent for champagne.

A set is arranged in the order of movement

The vessel that pours, the one that adds, the one that receives. The order of the butler's hands explains the arrangement.

VIIIWhy does the butler attend even to the sound of silver set down?

Handling silver is not only a matter of showing its lustre; it is placing it without metal touching metal, and without interrupting the conversation at table. The butler supports the centre of the handle steadily, checks the spacing from the next piece, and lets go only when the tips are aligned in the same direction.

Christofle Marly has fine relief in the rocaille ornament covering the whole handle. White gloves are not there to hide the ornament; they belong to the manner of holding the handle steadily and keeping the fingertips in a constant position. When laying for six, the butler surveys the line of the whole table, not a single place.

The silver bell, the five-light candelabra and the Italian single candlestick share the same table. The butler does not let each piece compete in splendour, but leaves space for a hand to reach the bell, a height that does not block the view, and a path for carrying the pieces. Only when sound, light and movement are in order does silver enter the manner of the Manor.

IXHow should porcelain be viewed, beyond the pattern on its face?

Viewing porcelain means not judging by the central design alone, but checking in turn the gilding of the rim, the thickness, the curve, the diameter and the backstamp. The butler sets a plate on a flat surface, turns it to an angle where the light does not glare, and then shows you pattern and rim.

Bernardaud Volubilis, with its floral pattern and gilded rim, comes in plates of 25.5 cm, 21.2 cm, 22 cm and 16.5 cm. Even in the same pattern, the dinner plate, plate, soup plate and side plate differ in margin and rise. Rather than comparing diameter alone, see how the pattern sits within the surface.

The Okura Art China Ruri Kinshoku Budo, 30 cm, and WEDGWOOD Columbia Turquoise, 34 cm, are set as chargers at two places. Beyond the difference of Japanese and English origin, the setting lets you compare at once the lapis, the turquoise, the placing of gold and the diameter.

XFor a first look at the collection, in what order is it easiest to compare?

A first comparison is not about memorising makers, but about narrowing the differences in order: silver against porcelain, different patterns from the same origin, different patterns sharing a colour. First distinguish how the materials catch the light, then look at form and use, and finally connect the backstamp and the proper name.

The butler does not set out many pieces at once, but centres on the cup that caught your eye and adds one piece to compare. If the turquoise interests you, Florentine and Columbia; if floral patterns, Volubilis; if the relief of silver, Marly. Proceeding from a question to a single piece, even a first-time visitor never loses sight of the differences.

The Japan Butler Association, which operates this Manor, is a general incorporated association. Its male and female butlers hold equally dear the careful handling of pieces and the accuracy of their names. After showing you, the butler restores the spacing so that no rims touch, and sets each piece at the angle at which the whole looks orderly through the curved glass of the cabinet.