Not currently on display at the V&A

Framed Keys

Key
ca.1900 (designed and made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Voysey stands out on several counts from most of his fellow architect-designers who joined the Art Workers’ Guild and contributed metalwork to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Instead of setting up his own workshop, he continued the traditional practice of handing over his designs to a trustworthy firm for execution. This encouraged him to ignore the repertory of ornamental techniques used by many metalworkers attached to the Arts and Crafts movement who habitually embellished their productions enamels and semi-precious stones. Of Voysey’s major contemporaries, only W.A.S. Benson favoured a similar simplicity of form and decoration, and Benson, significantly had his own factory in Hammersmith which was filled with the latest machinery. Unlike Benson, however, who increasingly devoted his energies to his metalwork to the exclusion of architecture, Voysey did not design a great deal either for precious or base metals, and when he did so it was usually with his architectural schemes in mind. Some of his finest and most characteristic designs for metalwork are the hinges fitted to furniture and doors.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleFramed Keys (generic title)
Materials and techniques
brass, steel and bronzed metal
Brief description
Eight keys, set within an oval frame, brass, steel and bronzed metal, London, ca.1900, possibly made by William Bainbridge Reynolds, designed by C.F.A. Voysey
Physical description
Eight keys, set within an oval frame, brass, steel and bronzed metal
Dimensions
  • Height: 30.5cm
  • Width: 22.5cm
  • Depth: 2.8cm
Style
Production typesmall batch
Credit line
Accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax by H M Government and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2014
Summary
Voysey stands out on several counts from most of his fellow architect-designers who joined the Art Workers’ Guild and contributed metalwork to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Instead of setting up his own workshop, he continued the traditional practice of handing over his designs to a trustworthy firm for execution. This encouraged him to ignore the repertory of ornamental techniques used by many metalworkers attached to the Arts and Crafts movement who habitually embellished their productions enamels and semi-precious stones. Of Voysey’s major contemporaries, only W.A.S. Benson favoured a similar simplicity of form and decoration, and Benson, significantly had his own factory in Hammersmith which was filled with the latest machinery. Unlike Benson, however, who increasingly devoted his energies to his metalwork to the exclusion of architecture, Voysey did not design a great deal either for precious or base metals, and when he did so it was usually with his architectural schemes in mind. Some of his finest and most characteristic designs for metalwork are the hinges fitted to furniture and doors.
Collection
Accession number
M.71-2014

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Record createdJanuary 24, 2013
Record URL
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