"Elephant" Champagne Cooler

This pewter bowl was probably purchased by or for George and Ellen Booth in the late 1890s. Henry Scripps Booth recalled that it had been among the family’s possessions at their Trumbull Avenue home in Detroit. It was regularly brought out at festive occasions, including Christmas, when it was invariably used for serving eggnog—a tradition that survived the passing of George and Ellen Booth. It appears on a painted cartouche in the Oak Room, commemorating the founding of the Cranbrook House Auxiliary in 1974.

A stamped trademark on the bowl’s base reveals that it was produced by Kayserzinn, a workshop in Cologne operated by J. P. Kayser Sohn. From 1894 to 1914, Kayserzinn produced a refined line of pewter wares for the booming Arts and Crafts market. Most Kayserzinn pieces were designed by Hugo Leven (1874-1956), and cast in a novel alloy of tin, copper, and antimony which emulated the shine of silver at a lower cost. This tulip-shaped bowl is richly ornamented, with elephant-head handles, two scenes of Diana and her nymphs hunting, and four hoofed feet. It probably predates Leven’s 1896 visit to Paris, which inspired him to abandon the pictorial decoration seen here in favor of sinuous molded shapes, abstractly evocative of organic forms. His designs won gold medals at international expositions and fairs in 1900, 1902, and 1904. In the 1890s and 1900s, Kayserzinn designs were sold at Liberty, London’s pre-eminent Arts and Crafts department store, where they ably completed with the work of British designer Archibald Cox.

Mariam Hale
2023-2025 Collections Fellow
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
January 2024