Description
with domed lantern pediment having applied red enamel bands over Celtic cross design enamelwork with central circular dial, painted Arabic numerals, the base of the cross decorated with two figures, one playing a pipe, the sides with panels of fairies and enamel inscription NOW THE BRIGHT MORNING STAR COMES DANCING FROM THE EAST, AND RAPT THRO’ MANY A ROSY CHANGE THE TWILIGHT DIED INTO THE BANK, raised on spreading rectangular plinth (alterations)
Dimensions
31cm (12in) high x 19.5cm (7½in) wide
Footnote
Provenance:
Barclay Lennie Fine Art, Glasgow
Literature:
Burkhauser, Jude (edit.) 'Glasgow Girls: Women in Art and Design 1880-1920', Edinburgh 1990, pp. 158-163
Note: The inscription on this clock is taken from John Milton's 'Song on May Morning'.
De Courcy Lewthwaite Dewar was born in Kandy, Ceylon, the daughter of a tea planter. From 1891 she studied at the Glasgow School of Art and her main contribution to the Glasgow Style was her enamel and metal work, frequently illustrated and promoted in 'The Studio' magazine. Traditionally a male preserve in the early 19th century, metalworking by women had, by the late 19th century, become socially acceptable. Numerous talented women artists in jewellery, metalwork and enamelling were working in Glasgow at this time. By 1902 Dewar had been employed by Fra Newbery, Director of the School of Art, as a teacher in enamels. She had been influenced by her teacher in metalwork Peter Wylie Davidson, and she also benefitted from a visit to the School of Art of the celebrated enamellist Alexander Fisher. In addition to her teaching role, she had her own studio in Glasgow, recieving frequent commissions for her work and collaborating with other contemporaries such as Dorothy Carleton Smyth (see lot 23) and Jessie M. King. Along with the Mackintoshes and the MacNairs, she exhibited at the Turin International Exhibition of Decorative Art in 1902. Her concern for womens issues also led to her support of the suffrage movement and she designed many bookplates, calendar and programmes for suffrage organisations. She remained an active and ouspoken participant in the arts and for womens' rights throughout her life. In 1933 she purchased 'White Tulips' (lot 61) by Charles Rennie Mackintosh at the Memorial Exhibition in Glasgow in 1933 (no. 78).