For #WorldPenguinDay check out this delightful Art Deco penguin cocktail shaker/jug!
Emile Arthur Schuelke (1901–86) for the Napier Company Cocktail shaker or jug special edition for the 1939 New York World’s Fair (originally designed 1936) silver plate, 31.6 x 13.2 x 11.5cm Royal Collection Trust
“A silver plated cocktail shaker or jug in the shape of a penguin, with hinged beak as pourer, wings to side, S-shape handle and claw base. The base is stamped with the Napier patent mark D-101559.
Designed by Emile Arthur Schuelke (1901–86), an art deco penguin cocktail shaker was first produced for the Napier Company in September 1936. This special edition for the New York World’s Fair, complete with octagonal blue emblem on the penguin’s head, may have been produced to complement an exhibit called Admiral Byrd’s Penguin Island. Taking its name from the American explorer Rear Admiral Richard Byrd Jr (1888–1957), who had made several expeditions to Antarctica, Penguin Island featured fifty live penguins, the largest number ever shown. Alongside them was Admiral Byrd’s personal team of five Huskies, born and reared at Little America, Antarctica; and Advance Base, the hut in which Byrd had stayed during his most recent expedition to Antarctica in 1934–5.
Provenance: From the New York World’s Fair, 1939. Probably acquired by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their visit to the Fair on 10 June 1939, as part of their tour of US and Canada. Later recorded in the collection of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at Clarence House.”
