Cake basket

Object Type
The cake basket evolved from the form of the 18th-century bread basket, in response to the Victorian need to serve cake elegantly at the numerous domestic social gatherings, such as afternoon tea, 'at home' teas (large afternoon parties with music) or 'high tea' (an informal supper).

People
The cake basket was designed by the Manx-born designer and teacher Archibald Knox ( 1864-1933 ). Knox studied at the Douglas School of Art, specialising in Celtic art, and began his teaching career there. He arrived in London in the mid-1890s, and designed for the pioneering retailer Liberty & Co. from about 1899. Knox became one of the ablest of the Liberty designers, displaying an easy mastery of the intricate interlacing ornament in the Celtic manner, as this cake basket demonstrates. It was made in pewter by the Birmingham firm of W.H. Haseler, who had already formed a working relationship with Liberty's to make most of their silver 'Cymric' range.

Time
Pewter, a tin alloy, had been largely out of favour in Britain since the 18th century as a material for making fashionable tableware, but a revival of interest in the material had begun in France and Germany at the end of the 19th century. Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917), who founded Liberty & Co., began to import modern pewter from Germany in 1899. The success of this venture encouraged him to commission the 'Tudric' range, of which this cake basket is an example, using designs from Rex Silver and Archibald Knox.