Kinderservies van zilver, gedeeltelijk verguld, met bijbehorend bestek, tezamen in een cassette c. 1900

This is a silver and part-gilt children’s service with cutlery, by Peter Bruckmann und Söhne. Although the date of production isn’t given, Bruckmann lived from 1778 to 1850. Objects like these offer a window into the social history of childhood. The provision of luxury items for children reflects changing attitudes to the family and to children in particular. Silverware like this would only have been owned by wealthy families in Europe; its presence tells us something about the culture of bourgeois domesticity and the rituals of family life. The visual codes operating here are those of wealth and status: precious materials, fine workmanship, and the careful presentation of the set within a case all speak to the family’s high standing. Historians researching this work would want to examine family papers and other records to reconstruct the social world to which it belonged. Only then can we really understand what this service meant in its own time.