BIRMINGHAM 1902
UNIQUE PAIR OF SILVER AND ENAMEL CANDLESTICKS
DESIGNED BY ARCHIBALD KNOX FOR LIBERTY & CO.
In 1899 Liberty & Co launched the “Cymric” range of silver and jewellery. This range was designed by amongst others, Oliver Baker, Bernard Cuzner and Rex Silver. But it is the name of Archibald Knox who sparks enormous interest in Liberty wares.
These candlesticks dated 1902 carry all the telltale signs of being a Knox design. The path towards a firm attribution began with all the usual sources including the excellent book ‘Archibald Knox’ by Stephen A Martin. Many of the classic Knox design features, such as the wire supports, cone shaped sconces and entrelac work on the bases, appear here.
Failing to find the exact design, the search continued at the Victoria & Albert museum in London. Here in the Print & Drawings Study Room the public has access to a number of original drawings by Archibald Knox. Five candlestick designs were found and three had names, these being “Conister”, “Pollock” and “Thousla”. Interestingly the first two names are inspired by landmark rocks in Douglas bay while the third is the name of a reef off the Manx coast where Knox lived and did much of his work.
Disappointingly no original drawing was found for these candlesticks. This is not surprising as many of the originals were destroyed by a fire at Liberty’s in their Regent Street building.
The last port of call was Middlesex University who have a large record of designs and the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. The segmented stems with protruding nodules seemingly has not been recorded on a piece of Liberty metal ware, but the design for a book cover, “The Old Curiosity Shop”, shows these exact stems and furthermore is inscribed with the letter “K” appearing to be in Knox’ hand.
The Archibald Knox society founded in 2006 and based in the Isle of Man has published these candlesticks on their website under “Silver”. Some of the other candlestick designs mentioned above are also pictured here. The fact that so far this design seems to be unique, leads us to believe that it may be a special commission for a Liberty client. One can only wonder what name Knox would have given it.
Dimensions: 25,5cm high
Weight: 540g gross