Not on display

Cake Slice

1998 (made)
Artist/Maker
McCrory, Michael (designer and maker)
Place of origin
London (hallmarked)

This server encapsulates the principles of elegance through simplicity of form and decoration. The blade celebrates the high polish that silver takes while its satisfyingly solid mass is rendered light through the central opening and twenty one drilled decorative holes. The sense of delicacy combined with strength is carried up into the arched handle which echoes the curvaceous lines of the blade. Michael McCrory has achieved a harmony of form and function, sculptural presence and line.

Object details

Categories
Eating
Metalwork
Object type
Cake slice
Materials and techniques
Silver, forged and pierced
Silver
Forging
Piercing
Brief description
Silver, London hallmarks for 1998, mark of Michael McCrory
Physical description
The lyre shaped blade is sharpened on the ends and the blade halves are strengthened by a sub-surface join towards the front end. The blade carries a simple decorative design of pierced holes that outlines its inner division. An anticlastic hollow handle rises up at an acute angle at the rear. It curls forward so that the hand is over the blade, the long extent of which provides a considerable useful surface.
Dimensions
  • Height: 20.5cm
  • Length: 23.5cm
  • Weight: 399g
Marks and inscriptions
  • London hallmarks for 1998
  • Mark of Michael McCrory
Gallery label
(2005)
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.
Credit line
Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Professor B. Seymour Rabinovitch
Object history
Fairfax House 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 encapsulates the principles of elegance through simplicity of form and decoration. The blade celebrates the high polish that silver takes while its satisfyingly solid mass is rendered light through the central opening and twenty one drilled decorative holes. The sense of delicacy combined with strength is carried up into the arched handle which echoes the curvaceous lines of the blade. Michael McCrory has achieved a harmony of form and function, sculptural presence and line.
Bibliographic reference
Benton Seymour Rabinovitch and Helen Clifford, Contemporary Silver, commissioning designing collecting, London, Merrell, pp.68-9. ill. ISBN.1858941040
Other number
LOAN:AMERICANFRIENDS.91-2005 - previous loan number
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
M.64-2008

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Record createdMay 12, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O154445/cake-slice-mccrory-michael/
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