15 April 2025
Philip Smith
The Spring 2025 edition of our MODERN MADE auction featured a fine selection of works from the estate of pioneering British silversmith and goldsmith, Jocelyn Burton.
Jocelyn was celebrated for her bold designs and mastery of precious metals. Often working from intricate preliminary drawings, her work is a technical masterclass in design and craftsmanship. As one of Britain’s most decorated metalworkers, her expansive style explores the full decorative and technical potential of the medium.
Burton trained as a silversmith under Jack Stapley at Sir John Cass College, London, and supplemented her studies in etching and mezzotint under Radovan Kraguli by working in the Eaton Bag and shell shop. Her talent was recognised early. In 1966, she received a travelling scholarship to Yugoslavia, and in 1968, while still a student, she won the De Beers Diamond Award for jewellery design. However, she left college in her third year due to restrictions that prevented her from gaining practical experience. Undeterred, she established her own studio in Red Lion Street, London, in 1970 and soon gained recognition for her artistic and technical brilliance all by the age of 24.
Burton’s career accelerated in 1973 when Sir Roy Strong commissioned her to create a silver centrepiece for the Victoria and Albert Museum, inspired by the Albert Memorial and the museum’s own Victorian tower. This piece, inscribed in Latin to commemorate the opening of the Henry Cole Wing, was the start of the museum’s Modern Plate Collection and remains on display as part of the museum’s permanent silver collection today.
In 1974, Burton became the first woman admitted as a Freeman to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths at the age of 27, breaking new ground in a male-dominated profession. Her early works were exhibited at the Archer Gallery, where the legendary American war photographer Lee Miller commissioned her to create a peapod pendant filled with pearls, suspended from a silver necklace adorned with a sea urchin spine.
The two bowls can function independently or connect seamlessly, allowing them to be viewed as a pair or stacked together to form a single unit.
Jocelyn Burton described the piece as "a pair of hammered bowls that join with a bezel at the center, resembling a medieval set. Each bowl was crafted from a simple sheet of silver, with the splash element added 40 years after their initial creation by James Powell. They span my entire career."
She developed a reputation for taking on ambitious, large-scale commissions that challenged the technical limits of silversmithing. Notable works include a silver tabletop fountain for the Fishmongers’ Company, created for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1976, and a pair of solid silver dolphin wall sconces, each four feet high and weighing 20 kilos, commissioned by Lord Inchcape.
Burton has received several prestigious awards, including the United Kingdom Jeweller Award for Best Design in Silver (1995). In 1997 she won both the British Jewellers Association Award for best designer and the World Gold Council Award for a gold necklace. Prince Philip awarded Burton his Medal for exceptional contribution to engineering in 2003. She exhibited at Asprey & Garrard in Bond Street (1998) and Bentley & Skinner (2012), further cementing her reputation.
Later in life, she focused on jewellery, often designing bold, wearable pieces. Her silver and gold bat pendants, inspired by an Imperial robe in Shanghai, became a signature piece that she wore often herself — she believed they brought good luck.
This was Burton's first large piece crafted from silver.
Her works are held across an array of esteemed public and private collections, including those of the Victoria and Albert Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, 10 Downing Street, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the York Minster & Lichfield Cathedral, Buckingham Palace & the Palace of the Ruler of Dubai and the Worshipful Companies of the City of London.
Jocelyn Burton’s legacy is one of artistic excellence, breaking barriers in a traditionally male-dominated field with technical mastery, creative audacity, and timeless designs that continue to inspire silversmiths and goldsmiths worldwide. We are thrilled to present a selection of works from her estate, showcasing the breadth and quality of her career—from architectural pieces and exquisite silver table ornaments, such as the stunning ‘splash’ bowls, to intricate jewellery.
