Not currently on display at the V&A

Teapot

1973 (made), 1973-1974 (hallmarked)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

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 wrote in his book Hand and Machine (London 1985) “that each area can enrich each other to a very important degree.”


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver-gilt with brown-stained ivory
Brief description
Silver-gilt teapot with brown-stained ivory handle, designed by Gerald Benney, made in London, 1973.
Physical description
The body of the teapot is made of silver-gilt and is in a compressed pear-shape, textured all over with a matting hammer. The hinged and domed lid and the triangular spout are left plain. A small loop handle runs from the side of the lid to the top of the hinge. The main handle rises from shaped tubular sockets from the neck of the body and is made of brown-stained ivory, carved with a central depression and pinned into the sockets.
Dimensions
  • Height: 17.8cm
  • Length: 17.5cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'GERALD BENNEY / LONDON'
  • AGB (A. Gerald Benney) (Maker's mark.)
  • London hallmark for 1973
Object history
The teapot is part of a set with a tea canister and spoon, originally made for Alastair McAlpine one of Gerald Benney's most assiduous customers. When first produced it was of silver only, and was subsequently gilded at his request.
Summary
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 wrote in his book Hand and Machine (London 1985) “that each area can enrich each other to a very important degree.”
Collection
Accession number
M.83-1979

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Record createdJuly 13, 2007
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