Images(10)

Hammered Silver Standing Bowl

MakerMade by Sybil Dunlop (Hampstead, London, England, 1889 - 1968)

Date1922

Object NameBowl

MediumSilver and amethyst

ClassificationsApplied Art

Dimensions10 × 13cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 2007 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions.

LocationOn Display - Gallery 14

Object numberABDAG011337

Keywords

About MeA fine Arts and Crafts silver hammered standing bowl on domed spreading foot. The base and upper border are set with four amethyst cabochons and applied with entwined Celtic knotwork. The piece is marked with the maker's mark: SD, and is hallmarked: London, 1922.

Sybil Dunlop was born to Scottish parents, completing her education in Brussels where she was sent to learn French. Whilst she was there she learnt the rudiments of her craft. On returning to Britain in the 1920s she set up in business with W. Nathanson, working in a late Arts and Crafts style.

Her work is characterised by the use of gemstones and by jewels inspired by themes drawn from nature. This standing bowl illustrates superbly her fondness for gemstones, which were specially cut for her by lapidaries in Germany. The standing bowl successfully demonstrates the new methods used by the Arts and Crafts artists to introduce colour and texture into their work. The standing bowl also reveals how gem-setting had changed and developed from the nineteenth century Scottish style of setting flat-cut pebble stones or bright-cut cairngorm stones in metalwork. Dunlop's work is amongst the best of the late Art and Crafts style, retaining a fresh and vibrant quality, when the output of others had become more outmoded.

Dated to 1922.

More About Me

Collections Wall

Best known as a jewellery designer, Dunlop’s bowl is finely enriched with gemstones and beautiful engravings.

Exhibitions

Gallery 14 - Art of Empowerment