Hors d'oeuvres tray

In 1913 the young artist Grant Wood was a night student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  During the day he worked at the Kalo Shop earning sixteen dollars a week.  There he met Kristopher Haga, a Norwegian silversmith, and in June 1914 they opened the Volund Shop, named for the smith of Norse legend. Wood and Haga produced modest silver items and gold jewelry, but they also made larger service pieces such as this tray. They closed the shop after only eighteen months, probably for lack of funds.  Wood went on to become a celebrated painter, best know for his work American Gothic.  Haga returned to the Kalo Shop, where he worked until about 1920.