Sometimes when you buy things at the flea-market, they can be the ugliest, most degraded, scandalising pieces of junk in the world…

This distinctly unattractive footed copper tray with the up-curving, rectangular brass handles, was for sale at one of the regular stalls. It was so tarnished and grimy that most people just walked right past it. It almost melted into the dark table-cloth around it, so it likely just sat there, unloved and sight-unseen for half the morning. In fact, when I came across it, it was so dirty that you couldn’t even tell how old it was!

It was only when I flipped the tray over to see the reverse of the pattern punched into the metal that I realised what style it was made in, and therefore, approximately how old it was. I bought it on the spot for next to nothing, and once I got home, I started the very, very arduous process of cleaning it. As you can see, there was a lot of grime on top of that beautiful patterning underneath…

I freely admit that when I was younger, Art Nouveau antiques were not to my taste. I found them too flowery and garish and over-the-top. But, as I’ve gotten older, I have come to appreciate their flowing, curving, naturalistic lines, something not found in my favourite style of design – Art Deco, which flourished from the 1920s to the 1950s.

By comparison, Art Nouveau – what came before Deco – emphasized natural forms and lines rather than the more rigid curves and angles of Deco, taking inspiration from nature and the outdoors, insects and plant-life. Popular in the dying decade of the 1800s and the first ten or twenty years of the 20th century, Art Nouveau was at its height in the early 1900s. Eventually, the scrolls, flowers, curves, loops and angles all started to look cluttered and old-fashioned, and a cleaner, simpler look, in the form of Art Deco, started taking its place by the early 20s.

One of the reasons that I kind of disliked Art Nouveau is that it was very much ‘of its time’. A piece of Deco-styled homewares, electronics, furniture, a building, an interior, etc…is pretty timeless. The clean, simple, minimalist lines translate well into modern living.

By comparison, I’ve always found that Art Nouveau styling was far too reminiscent of the Victorian obsession with over-decorating EVERYTHING. And this sort of rigidity in that Art Nouveau was so firmly rooted in turn-of-the-century styling was what sort of put me off. But at the same time, the fact that it’s so easily identifiable does lend to its charm. It adds an instantly-recognisable dash of Edwardian elegance to a collection without looking excessively overwrought.

Anyway, back to the tray.

It’s honestly not that large. It measures 8 by 14 inches, and sits on six little ball feet. It has two curving, rectangular handles and a raised edge. Apart from extensive polishing, the only other thing I had to do with it was a couple of well-placed, padded hammer-strikes, to balance out the feet and stop the damn thing from wobbling on a flat surface.

Here’s the tray, more or less completed. I still have a bit of minor polishing to do on the underside and the edges as you can see, but apart from that, it figured it was made-up enough to be ready for its closeup-shots.

One final shot, showing off the main decorations, and one of the handles, simple as it is…