Cake slice
Cake Slice
2002 (made)
2002 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This server is a good illustration of Stuart Devlin’s penchant for adding surprise and delight to many of his works. This slice is highly decorative and by the “twist of a screw” (actually two) is a highly functional slice.
Stuart Leslie Devlin AO CMG (9 October 1931 – 12 April 2018) was an Australian artist and metalworker who specialised in gold and silver and designed coins for countries around the world. Devlin was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia and became an art teacher, specialising in gold and silversmithing. In 1957, he obtained a post at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and studied for a Diploma of Art in gold and silversmithing. He was awarded scholarships to study at the Royal College of Art in London in 1958, was awarded a Harkness Fellowship by the Commonwealth Fund, and spent had a two-year fellowship at Columbia University in New York City. He returned to teach in Melbourne and became an inspector of art schools. In 1964 he won a competition to design the first decimal coinage for Australia.
In 1965, he moved to London and opened a small workshop. His work often took the form of limited editions, the most popular being Easter eggs and Christmas boxes. He adapted and devised new techniques to produce a wide variety of textures and filigree forms and produced a new collection each year. He was commissioned to produce a wide range of work including trophies, clocks, centrepieces, goblets, candelabra, bowls, and insignia. Devlin designed coins and medals for 36 countries throughout the world, including precious coins for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the medals for the founding awards of the Australian honours system in 1975: the Order of Australia, the Australian Bravery Decorations and the National Medal.
In 1982, Devlin was granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment as Goldsmith and Jeweller to Her Majesty the Queen and was Prime Warden of the Goldsmith's Company 1996–97.
Stuart Leslie Devlin AO CMG (9 October 1931 – 12 April 2018) was an Australian artist and metalworker who specialised in gold and silver and designed coins for countries around the world. Devlin was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia and became an art teacher, specialising in gold and silversmithing. In 1957, he obtained a post at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and studied for a Diploma of Art in gold and silversmithing. He was awarded scholarships to study at the Royal College of Art in London in 1958, was awarded a Harkness Fellowship by the Commonwealth Fund, and spent had a two-year fellowship at Columbia University in New York City. He returned to teach in Melbourne and became an inspector of art schools. In 1964 he won a competition to design the first decimal coinage for Australia.
In 1965, he moved to London and opened a small workshop. His work often took the form of limited editions, the most popular being Easter eggs and Christmas boxes. He adapted and devised new techniques to produce a wide variety of textures and filigree forms and produced a new collection each year. He was commissioned to produce a wide range of work including trophies, clocks, centrepieces, goblets, candelabra, bowls, and insignia. Devlin designed coins and medals for 36 countries throughout the world, including precious coins for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the medals for the founding awards of the Australian honours system in 1975: the Order of Australia, the Australian Bravery Decorations and the National Medal.
In 1982, Devlin was granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment as Goldsmith and Jeweller to Her Majesty the Queen and was Prime Warden of the Goldsmith's Company 1996–97.
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Serving up: silver slices
Rummage hard enough through your kitchen drawers and you might find a metal server for slicing and serving fish, cakes, pies and puddings. Today slices are often reserved for special occasions, but they were once the height of fashion, specially designed for specific foods – from 'knight s...
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 4 parts.
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| Title | Cake slice |
| Materials and techniques | Silver, parcel-gilt |
| Brief description | Silver, parcel-gilt, London hallmarks for 2002, mark of Stuart Devlin |
| Physical description | The triangular blade, which carries a removable piece of cake, has sharply turned corners. It is pierced, first, by a single leading retainer hole, 7mm in diameter, which receives the point of the piece of cake. This hole is followed by four pairs of diverging holes, which decrease progressively to 3mm diameter and which act as piercing of the blade when the cake is removed. The blade is 4mm thick at centre and decreases in thickness to bevelled edges. It has a flat bottom and polished surfaces. It rises via a heavy forged lift to a spreading handle which is cross-peened and gilded on both sides. The handle is 2cm wide at the terminal and has a gently rounded end edge. The hollow triangular piece of cake is “double layer” with a 6mm middle “icing layer that leaks out on the right side; the bottom layer exhibits two oozes of icing. The top layer has a 6mm icing layer and two “cream” swirls at the rear. The latter are actually the caps of two rods that terminate in thread and that engage the rear pair of holes in the blade and hold the piece firmly in place. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Gallery label | This collection of silver slices, all commissioned over a period of twenty years by Professor Benton Seymour Rabinovitch FRS, is proof of the skill and diversity of contemporary silversmiths. Each artist craftsman has responded to the familiar functional form of the slice in an individual way, producing an astonishingly diverse range of interpretations. Each piece becomes an enchanting, decorative work of art. Professor Rabinovitch established a close rapport with each artist, always encouraging a freedom of creative expression. The response of these silversmiths has been not only to be strikingly imaginative but also to honour him by giving him their best work.
This collection is testimony to the significant contribution that one individual can make to supporting the craft of silversmithing. After commissioning work from some of the most illustrious names in British and North American silversmithing, Professor Rabinovitch has very generously donated his entire collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum, through the American Friends of the V&A.(2005) |
| Credit line | Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Professor B. Seymour Rabinovitch |
| Object history | Fish & Cake slice exhibition RF.2004/419 |
| Historical context | Part of a collection of fish slices commissioned by Professor Rabinovitch from contemporary North American and British makers. |
| Summary | This server is a good illustration of Stuart Devlin’s penchant for adding surprise and delight to many of his works. This slice is highly decorative and by the “twist of a screw” (actually two) is a highly functional slice. Stuart Leslie Devlin AO CMG (9 October 1931 – 12 April 2018) was an Australian artist and metalworker who specialised in gold and silver and designed coins for countries around the world. Devlin was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia and became an art teacher, specialising in gold and silversmithing. In 1957, he obtained a post at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and studied for a Diploma of Art in gold and silversmithing. He was awarded scholarships to study at the Royal College of Art in London in 1958, was awarded a Harkness Fellowship by the Commonwealth Fund, and spent had a two-year fellowship at Columbia University in New York City. He returned to teach in Melbourne and became an inspector of art schools. In 1964 he won a competition to design the first decimal coinage for Australia. In 1965, he moved to London and opened a small workshop. His work often took the form of limited editions, the most popular being Easter eggs and Christmas boxes. He adapted and devised new techniques to produce a wide variety of textures and filigree forms and produced a new collection each year. He was commissioned to produce a wide range of work including trophies, clocks, centrepieces, goblets, candelabra, bowls, and insignia. Devlin designed coins and medals for 36 countries throughout the world, including precious coins for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and the medals for the founding awards of the Australian honours system in 1975: the Order of Australia, the Australian Bravery Decorations and the National Medal. In 1982, Devlin was granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment as Goldsmith and Jeweller to Her Majesty the Queen and was Prime Warden of the Goldsmith's Company 1996–97. |
| Bibliographic reference | Benton Seymour Rabinovitch, Contemporary Silver, Part II Recent Commissions, Seattle, RAB Associates, 2005, pp.22-3. ill. |
| Other number | LOAN:AMERICANFRIENDS.74-2005 - previous loan number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.47:1 to 4-2008 |
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| Record created | May 9, 2008 |
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