Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case M, Shelf 143

Design for a candelabra

Design
8/12/1979 (made)
Artist/Maker
Robert Welch (designer)

Design for a candelabra by Robert Welch, dated 1979.


Object details

Categories
Designs
Lighting
Metalwork
Silver
Object type
Design
TitleDesign for a candelabra (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Felt tipped pen, brown wash and shaded with graphite frottage over preliminary pencil. Paper laid on shiny white card.
Paper
Graphite
Wash
Felt Tip
Frottage
Brief description
Design for a candelabra by Robert Welch, dated 1979.
Dimensions
  • Paper sheet height: 217mm
  • Paper sheet width: 138mm
  • Support card height: 297mm
  • Support card width: 210mm
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
  • 8.12.79 (in brown ink bottom left)
  • A preliminary rough sketch in which the candelabra is considered as a squat design and the speherical forms are contrasted with pronounced sweeping hollow forms. this sketch strongly influenced the version that was selected. (In typescript on separate sheet of headed notepaper)
  • RW. (In brown ink bottom right)
Gallery label
Robert Welch (Born 1929) Sketch designs for a pair of candelabra for the Victoria and Albert Museum. 1979, 1980 Each dated Felt-tipped pen, wash, graphite frottage and crayon Robert Welch trained at the Royal College of Art and is both an industrial designer and silversmith. For the candelabra commission Welch first produced five sketches of different schemes from which to make an initial choice, one of which is shown here. The other sketch shown here shows proposed decorative finishes of the chosen design. The design process concluded with more trial drawings, finished designs and a wooden model. The candelabra were made in Welch's workshop by John Limbrey. E.659-1981, E.657-1981
Object history
When he was Director of the V&A, Sir Roy Strong commissioned a pair of candelabra from Robert Welch for the Museum's permanent collections. Welch produced five sketches of proposed designs (E.654 to 658-1981) from which the V&A selected E.655-1981 for production. In total there are thirteen designs for the commision on nine sheets (E.654 to 662-1981) which are held in the Word and Image Department. The finished candelabra were made by John Limbrey and are held by the Metalwork Department (M.61 and 61A-1980).
Production
One of thirteen designs on nine sheets.
Subject depicted
Candelabra
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Snodin, Michael. Some Designs for English Gold and Silver. The V&A Album 4 1985, pp.151-5, figs. 9-11
  • p. 98 Eric Turner, Heike Zech, Masterpieces of British silver : highlights from the Victoria and Albert Museum Hong Kong : Liang Yi Museum, [2016]. 97898801494405
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.657-1981

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O548926/design-for-a-candelabra-design-robert-welch/
Download as: JSON