Lot 142
A pair of Liberty & Co. 'Cymric' silver candlesticks, the design attributed to Archibald Knox,
Auction: 21 April 2004 at 12:00 BST
Description
each with removable drip trays and sockets above nozzles cast with stylised buds and applied with tapering tendrils, joining the stem and terminating in a spreading base cast with leaf motifs, stamped 'L & Co.' 'Cymric', each piece bearing hallmarks for Birmingham 1905 (2)
Dimensions
21cm high
Footnote
Ref: 'Encyclopedia of Arts & Crafts', Consultant Wendy Kaplan, pub. London 1989 p.164
'Archibald Knox', edited by Stephen A Martin, pub. London 1995, p.33, 34, 35, 112 illus.
Note: Whilst the design of these candlesticks are often ascribed to Rex Siver, an essay by Mark Turner, curator of the Silver Studio Collection asserts that in all probability they are infact by Archibald Knox or perhaps a collaboration between Knox and Silver. The original attribution for the 'Conister' candlesticks appeared in The Studio magazine in 1900. These sticks show many of stylistic characteristics of the lot offered here. Shirley Bury, curator of metalwork at the V&A, in the course of her research, was surprised however that Silver, aged 19, could 'produce such sophisticated designs'. An interview by Stuart Durant with Frederick Burrows, who had been an articled pupil of Christopher Dresser in the late 1890s, suggested that Knox and Silver had worked together at the Silver Studios. Further research revealed that many of the metalwork designs donated to the V&A from the Silver Studios had titles whick bore Isle of Man place names, including the 'Conister', which is a rocky outcrop in Douglas Bay. Bury now believed there was a very strong possibility that the designs from the Silver Studio were by Archibald Knox and not Rex Silver. Mark Turner's own research proved this to be 'almost certainly true'. He discovered that the day books from 1911 - 1963 show that without exception the '(Silver) studio's day books (which have all survived intact from 1911) and photographic records reveal that all the other designs were actually produced by a member of the studio staff and never by Silver.'
For similar example see Christies Scotland, 'Decorative Arts', 23rd September 1997, lot 151 (£6900)