Silver and glass inkwell

Price range: Sold

A Guild of Handicrafts silver and glass inkwell with Chyrsoprase finial dated London 1903. The glass is believed to be from the Whitefriars factory and modelled from a whisky bottle design of that period. This piece is attributed to Charles Ashbee and believed to be exhibited in the 1903 Arts and Crafts Society Exhibition and commented on by the Studio Journal, February 1904

Maker: Guild of Handicrafts
Designer: Charles Robert Ashbee
Date: 1903
Marks: G of H Ltd, London, date letter “h” to lid and base
Material: Sterling silver, glass, chrysoprase
Condition: Very good. Slight dent to lid, small scratch to glass.
Size: 8.5cm square, 9cm tall
Weight: 572 grams (not silver weight)

SKU: A11 Category: Archive

Description

The page from the 1903 Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society Catalogue describing an Ashbee inkwell like this one is shown below (Page 179, Exhibit m in catalogue)

Text from the Studio Journal February 1904 describes the Ashbee inkwell as follows “The use of a single jewel like enamel, well chosen as to its colour and position in dainty pieces of silverware for the table, was happily demonstrated in several small exhibits, of which the ink bottle in green glass with the note of green repeated in the little knob of the lid…were among the most praiseworthy”

See Alan Crawford, “C.R. Ashbee”, Yale University Press