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89-Piece Sterling Set (Estate Silver)
Love Disarmed by Reed and Barton
Special Price - $59,999.00
Item code - RDSLOD 89-6S

Reed & Barton Love Disarmed 89-Piece Set
(Click To Enlarge)

This month we feature an estate silver flatware set like no other, 89 pieces of sterling in the Love Disarmed pattern by Reed Barton. The beauty and design sophistication of this pattern are hard to overstate. The core design of Love Disarmed features applied Art Nouveau styling in the form of a woman holding a bow in one arm while being flanked by Cupid, the Roman god of love and mischief(!). The woman’s other arm is tucked behind her head and apparently holding something away from Cupid (his arrows?). Additional design accents include poppy blossoms, vines, and leaves.

This breathtaking estate set includes 12 dinner knives, 12 dinner forks, 12 salad forks, 12 teaspoons, 12 dessert/place spoons, 12 butter spreaders, 12 round soup spoons, 1 tablespoon, 1 cold meat serving fork, 1 salad serving set (oversized fork and spoon included), and 1 large berry/casserole spoon. (These pieces also bear the older, earlier Reed & Barton backstamp.) Also included is an heirloom quality silver chest, complete with lock and a key. This 89-piece set (with chest and key) is offered for $59,999.00 and will immediately become an heirloom in the family lucky enough to have it. Love Disarmed represents genius in applied art, and was done at the apex of the very important Art Nouveau movement.

Reed & Barton Love Disarmed 89-Piece Set
(Click To Enlarge)

The art nouveau movement began in France in the late 19th century, and was established at the 1900 World’s Fair as the first new decorative style of the 20th century. Art Nouveau in some ways grew from protest at what the Industrial Revolution had wrought. A group of very talented artists were dismayed by the poor design quality of mass-produced machine-made goods of the era and worked to elevate the decorative arts to the status of the fine arts, by applying highly evolved design forms to everyday objects. To escape, in their minds, the less-evolved design tenets of the Industrial Revolution, these artists retreated to the highly stylized, mystical, and mythical world of the past. Because Europe was in the middle of resurgent interest in Greco-Roman culture during the Art Nouveau period, these artists often chose classical subjects for their works. Such is the case with Reed and Barton’s Love Disarmed.

Dinner Fork
(Click To Enlarge)

This amazing sterling pattern tells the story of Cupid, the god of love, and how he was in fact “disarmed”. The mythology varies, but some accounts have Cupid as the son of Mercury and Venus. Mercury was the wing-footed god of commerce and Venus was goddess of love and beauty. Cupid was a mischievous and fickle prankster. He wandered the countryside with a bow and quiver of arrows; some were tipped with gold, others with lead. If Cupid’s target was pierced with a golden arrow, that person would fall head over heels in love with the first person they saw. On the other hand, if pierced by a leaden arrow, Cupid’s target would feel great hate for the next person they saw. The pantheon of Roman gods (they met often) decided that Cupid’s pranks had gotten out of hand, and Cupid needed to be stopped, but how? Again, mythology varies but one account has Cupid’s mother, Venus, charged with the task of disarming her son. Another account has Diana, goddess of the hunt, stalking Cupid to steal his bow and arrows. Still another story, including Shakespeare’s Sonnet 154, have the caretakers of nature disarming Cupid. The divine custodians of nature were called “nymphs” and were known for their stunning beauty. Regardless of which version of the story you to which one lends the most weight, the gods had some divine female stalk Cupid and eventually take the source of his delight and mischief: his bow and arrows.

It was design genius on the part of Reed and Barton to so perfectly capture the story of disarming Cupid in sterling silver. While we are not sure who the voluptuous figure of Cupid’s conqueror in the Love Disarmed pattern was intended to be, we surmise it is either Venus, Diana, or a nymph. Most likely she is hiding Cupid’s quiver of arrows with her left arm while she holds his bow away from him with her right. Her classically styled body is covered by a dress of thin fabric, the wrinkles of which are displayed in intricate detail on each silver piece. To further accentuate her body, the designers of Love Disarmed have the right strap of her dress falling from her shoulder. Her long hair creates a sense of motion and seems to be blowing to the right of her body. On the left side of her body is the winged figure of Cupid. In his left hand, he holds an arrow and his gaze is cast longingly on the female form. His curly hair is typical of the idealized Greco-Roman male form, and poppy leaves and blooms surround Cupid. Since for centuries the poppy has been a symbol of sleep, the poppies that appear in the Love Disarmed pattern seem to suggest that the female form used the drowsy qualities of the poppy to induce sleep then and steal Cupid’s bow and most of his arrows.

Complete eighty-nine piece sets in a sterling pattern like Love Disarmed are very rare (and will only get more rare), but they are exceedingly beautiful, and bear a story like no other pattern. You can order this fantastic set at the link below, or by calling us toll-free at 1-800-REPLACE (1-800-737-5223) seven days a week, 8:00am to 10:00pm ET (we answer the phone very quickly). The Loved Disarmed story coupled with the beautiful pieces in this will create fun and cherished dinnertime memories for generations. We have only one set, so don’t think about it too long!

Click here to see our entire selection in this pattern, and to order online via our secure form!

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