Covered Soup Tureen and Ladle thumbnail 1
Covered Soup Tureen and Ladle thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Covered Soup Tureen and Ladle

1890-1893 (made)
Artist/Maker
Guild of Handicraft Ltd. (maker)
Ashbee, Charles Robert (designer)
Place of origin
London (made)

Charles Robert Ashbee established the Guild of Handicraft in 1888. Influenced by Ruskin and Morris, he intended the Guild to be a co-operative venture which would encourage the full creative potential of the craftsman. At the turn of the century, the Guild was at the height of its success and had evolved a distinctive and mature style. Softly planished surfaces decorated with chasing and embossing were characteristic of Ashbee's designs and had a significant effect on contemporary silver in Europe and America as well as Britain. Financially however, the Guild was less successful and in 1908, Ashbee was forced to wind up its affairs.


Object details

Categories
Eating
Metalwork
Tableware & Cutlery
Object type
Covered soup tureen and ladle
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Punch Bowl
  • Lid
  • Ladle
Materials and techniques
Nickel Silver
Copper
Silver
Semi-Precious Stone
Raising
Casting
Electroplating
Brief description
Electroplated nickel silver and copper, the ladle handle of silver (unmarked), ivory and jadeite, London, ca. 1890-93, designed by C.R. Ashbee and made by the Guild of Handicraft Ltd.
Dimensions
  • Height: 38.8cm
  • Maximum diameter: 26.6cm
Style
Arts and Crafts (Movement)
Marks and inscriptions
No marks
Object history
Designed by C.R. Ashbee and made by the Guild of Handicraft Ltd. for his mother, Janet Ashbee between 1890 and 1893.
Summary
Charles Robert Ashbee established the Guild of Handicraft in 1888. Influenced by Ruskin and Morris, he intended the Guild to be a co-operative venture which would encourage the full creative potential of the craftsman. At the turn of the century, the Guild was at the height of its success and had evolved a distinctive and mature style. Softly planished surfaces decorated with chasing and embossing were characteristic of Ashbee's designs and had a significant effect on contemporary silver in Europe and America as well as Britain. Financially however, the Guild was less successful and in 1908, Ashbee was forced to wind up its affairs.
Bibliographic references
  • Ashbee, C.R Modern English Silverwork: An essay by C.R. Ashbee, together with a series of designs by the author drawn upon a hundred separate lithograph plates and coloured by hand with a descriptive index, a new edition with introductory essays by Alan Crawford and Shirley Bury, London: Ben Weinreb, 1974. pl.55 ill. (Originally published by the Essex House Press, London, 1909).
  • Jervis, Simon, Victorian and Edwardian decorative art: the Handley-Read collection, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1972
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
CIRC.62B-1952

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Record createdNovember 6, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O140487/covered-soup-tureen-ashbee-charles-robert/
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