Georg Jensen Sterling Silver Eel Dish № 1054 by Henning Koppel

Georg Jensen Sterling Silver Eel Dish № 1054 by Henning Koppel

The iconic Eel dish designed by Henning Koppel in 1956. The brilliance of this design was immediately recognized, and the Eel dish received a Gold Medal at the 1957 Milan Triennale.

"I am sick to death of all this talk of functionalism. Practicality is not the primary goal when you make a serving dish like this. If you want to eat cod, you can certainly find something else to put it on. My serving dish is a work of art, and it should be a delight to see. You display it, look at it, enjoy it every single day. It is not supposed to be put away in some cupboard. In my opinion, beauty is the first thing to strive for in everything. To make something functional and practical is not so terribly difficult as some people make it out to be. In reality, that is the easiest thing. But to make something beautiful - that’s where the problem is." (Henning Koppel about his iconic design, from the book Niels-Jorgen Kaiser, The World of Henning Koppel, Georg Jensen, Copenhagen, 2000, pp. 79–82).

It takes many years of training to be able to create this masterpiece – and only one person in Georg Jensen workshop is capable of making the dish. He spends about 600 hours handcrafting it, and the whole process takes one year. 

A similar example can be seen in the book GEORG JENSEN HOLLOWARE, The Silver Fund Collection by David Taylor and Jason Laskey, pg. 310.

Designer: Henning Koppel
Maker: Georg Jensen
Design #: 1054
Circa: 1956
Dimensions: H 5.51" x W 7.28" x L 28.74"
Country of Origin: Denmark