Victorian centerpieces by Elkington of Birmingham. So much more fun than a plastic bowl of fruit.

Centerpiece with two entwined palms sheltering two dogs or greyhounds, modeled after Pierre-Jules Mène’s Two Whippets at Play. Villeroy and Boch plate in blue and white ceramic, above a shaped bronze base, with two entwined palms sheltering two dogs or greyhounds. Undated, 19th c. Possibly made by the British Elkington and Company. Image © 1stDibs.com, Inc. 2022. Fair use license. via https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/dining-entertaining/centerpieces/villeroy-boch-plate-elkington-co-centerpiece-after-pj-mennes-two-whippets/id-f_20456382/
Silverplate centerpiece comprised of elk and palm trees with a mirrored tableau. 19th c. English. Possibly made by Elkington. Image
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.Silvered bronze centerpiece with standing figures of a young hunter, a friar and a fish monger with a spaniel and game at their feet, mounted with plaques with 1859 and 1941 inscriptions. The inscriptions reading: “Presented to William Johnson Esq. as a token of respect & esteem by the workpeople in the employ of Messrs Richard Johnson & Brother, Manchester, January 28, 1859”, and “Worshipful Company of Tin Plate Workers, Alias Wire Workers of the City of London, Presented by Arthur Laurence Johnson M.A., Grandson of William Johnson, both Wire Workers, with his Daughter Eleanor Morton Johnson, a Freeman of the Company, to commemorate his Mastership 1941-42.” The company founded by the Johnsons supplied galvanized armored wire for the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1857. Original glass bowl. 1859. English. Made by Elkington, Mason and Company. Image
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Parcel-gilt silver centerpiece, the base supported on winged dolphin head feet and wide border decorated with panels of bacchic putti centered by female masks. Fitted with two removable kidney-shaped porcelain bowls with gilt scroll borders. The ends of the base with twin-tailed figures of Neptune supporting detachable shell-form dishes above their heads and flanked by rearing mer-horses. The central support decorated with flowerheads and lotus leaves and flanked by two joyous putti under an openwork basket pierced with panels of cherries spaced by beaded tendrils and hung with swags of chains, the central basket with a removable cut-glass bowl and the shell-form dishes with removable glass liners. 1866. British. Design attributed to Auguste Adolphe Willms. Elkington and Company, maker. Image © 2021 Sothebys. Fair use license. via https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/19th-century-furniture-sculpture-ceramics-silver-and-works-of-art-n08627/lot.45.html

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