Cymric
Cigarette Box
1903-1904 (hallmarked)
1903-1904 (hallmarked)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
This box was intended to store either cigarettes or cigars and was part of the range of designs produced by Archibald Knox for Liberty's 'Cymric' range of silverware and jewellery.
Design & Designing
Knox's designs owe much to the immediate precedents offered by the British Arts and Crafts movement and the work of C. R. Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft in particular. The characteristics shared by the designs produced by Knox and Ashbee include expanses of plain metal, concentrated fluid ornament and monochrome enamel work. Ashbee was to complain later that Liberty's straightforwardly plagiarised his ideas and principles but in this he was wrong. Liberty metalwork was altogether richer, more assured and self confident than the work of the Guild of Handicraft. Knox and his colleagues whether they be his fellow designers at the Silver Studio or the Liberty management who gave their undoubted support, had moved the Arts and Crafts stylistic principles one stage further forward and in so doing, had created a distinctive British version of Art Nouveau.
Materials & Making
It has been suggested that the shallow crispness of the raised decoration on this box may have been achieved by die stamping rather than embossing by hand.
This box was intended to store either cigarettes or cigars and was part of the range of designs produced by Archibald Knox for Liberty's 'Cymric' range of silverware and jewellery.
Design & Designing
Knox's designs owe much to the immediate precedents offered by the British Arts and Crafts movement and the work of C. R. Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft in particular. The characteristics shared by the designs produced by Knox and Ashbee include expanses of plain metal, concentrated fluid ornament and monochrome enamel work. Ashbee was to complain later that Liberty's straightforwardly plagiarised his ideas and principles but in this he was wrong. Liberty metalwork was altogether richer, more assured and self confident than the work of the Guild of Handicraft. Knox and his colleagues whether they be his fellow designers at the Silver Studio or the Liberty management who gave their undoubted support, had moved the Arts and Crafts stylistic principles one stage further forward and in so doing, had created a distinctive British version of Art Nouveau.
Materials & Making
It has been suggested that the shallow crispness of the raised decoration on this box may have been achieved by die stamping rather than embossing by hand.
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Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Cymric (manufacturer's title) |
| Materials and techniques | Silver, with cedarwood lining, embossed and inlaid with opal matrix |
| Brief description | Silver inlaid with opals, Birmingham 1903-4, mark of Liberty and Company (Cymric) Ltd. |
| Physical description | Silver casket of rectangular form, cedarwood lining with two interior partitions. The front half of the hinged lid is embossed with an interlacing design which runs down over the front of the body and on to the front half of each side. The lid set with a large opal in a heart shaped mount. Smaller cabochon opals in the front and on each side. Knox's Celtic ornamentation was so crisply defined that most of his designs might have been die-struck. |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Object history | Designed for Liberty & Co., London, by Archibald Knox (born in Cronkbourne, Tromode, Isle of Man, 1864, died in Douglas, Isle of Man, 1933); made for Liberty & Co. by W.H. Haseler Ltd., Birmingham |
| Historical context | Mrs Wren purchased the casket from Liberty and Company in 1953, |
| Summary | Object Type This box was intended to store either cigarettes or cigars and was part of the range of designs produced by Archibald Knox for Liberty's 'Cymric' range of silverware and jewellery. Design & Designing Knox's designs owe much to the immediate precedents offered by the British Arts and Crafts movement and the work of C. R. Ashbee and his Guild of Handicraft in particular. The characteristics shared by the designs produced by Knox and Ashbee include expanses of plain metal, concentrated fluid ornament and monochrome enamel work. Ashbee was to complain later that Liberty's straightforwardly plagiarised his ideas and principles but in this he was wrong. Liberty metalwork was altogether richer, more assured and self confident than the work of the Guild of Handicraft. Knox and his colleagues whether they be his fellow designers at the Silver Studio or the Liberty management who gave their undoubted support, had moved the Arts and Crafts stylistic principles one stage further forward and in so doing, had created a distinctive British version of Art Nouveau. Materials & Making It has been suggested that the shallow crispness of the raised decoration on this box may have been achieved by die stamping rather than embossing by hand. |
| Bibliographic reference | Greenhalgh, Paul (Ed.), Art Nouveau: 1890-1914 . London: V&A Publications, 2000
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.15-1970 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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