Tree
Tree
1969 (made)
1969 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Gerald Benney started his own workshop on graduating from the RCA in 1955 and by 1957 was already appointed as a consultant designer to Viners of Sheffield, a major producer of base metal hollow ware and flat ware which at its zenith, in the late 1960s, employed over a thousand workers. Benney relies on strong geometric forms which in the 1950s incorporated an increasing use of attenuated shapes and showed some degree of Scandinavian influence. From the early 1960s, there was a return to a more formal, geometric and symmetrical element in his work which has usually been enriched by a textured surface and occasionally, deep, lustrous enamel. His enamel work developed from the experience passed on to him by Berger Beigersen, the master enameller from the now extinct firm of Burch Korrodi of Zurich. He first discovered the appeal of the textured surface in 1956 as a result of a workshop accident and since the 1960s, it has become very much a trademark of his work. It is interesting to compare a Martini jug and six tankards designed by Benney and produced in pewter by Viners in 1958 which also uses a soft textured decoration as its main decorative element, thus illustrating that the craft of silversmithing had a direct and interdependent relationship with his activities as an industrial designer. The value of this relationship has been strongly stressed by his contemporary, Robert Welch who has equally successfully worked in both disciplines throughout his career and recently wrote in his book Hand and Machine (London 1985) “that each area can enrich each other to very important degree.”
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Tree (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | 18 carat gold, set with carved emeralds and cabochon-cut rubies on a nephrite jade base. |
Brief description | Tree sculpture, 18 carat gold set with emeralds and rubies on a nephrite jade base, London no hallmarks, 1969, made by Gerald Benney, CBE, RDI |
Physical description | In the form of a stylised tree, the carved emeralds resembling leaves, the surface of the gold lightly textured to imitate bark, the base encircled with rubies and the circular base is of nephrite jade. |
Dimensions |
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Marks and inscriptions | No marks |
Gallery label |
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Credit line | Lent by a private collection |
Object history | Goldsmiths' Hall Exhibition RF.2004/1017 |
Summary | Gerald Benney started his own workshop on graduating from the RCA in 1955 and by 1957 was already appointed as a consultant designer to Viners of Sheffield, a major producer of base metal hollow ware and flat ware which at its zenith, in the late 1960s, employed over a thousand workers. Benney relies on strong geometric forms which in the 1950s incorporated an increasing use of attenuated shapes and showed some degree of Scandinavian influence. From the early 1960s, there was a return to a more formal, geometric and symmetrical element in his work which has usually been enriched by a textured surface and occasionally, deep, lustrous enamel. His enamel work developed from the experience passed on to him by Berger Beigersen, the master enameller from the now extinct firm of Burch Korrodi of Zurich. He first discovered the appeal of the textured surface in 1956 as a result of a workshop accident and since the 1960s, it has become very much a trademark of his work. It is interesting to compare a Martini jug and six tankards designed by Benney and produced in pewter by Viners in 1958 which also uses a soft textured decoration as its main decorative element, thus illustrating that the craft of silversmithing had a direct and interdependent relationship with his activities as an industrial designer. The value of this relationship has been strongly stressed by his contemporary, Robert Welch who has equally successfully worked in both disciplines throughout his career and recently wrote in his book Hand and Machine (London 1985) “that each area can enrich each other to very important degree.” |
Collection | |
Accession number | LOAN:MET ANON.2-1978 |
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Record created | February 1, 2005 |
Record URL |
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