An enamelled silver and moonstone pendant by The Guild of Handicraft,
London or Chipping Campden, circa 1899-1905
designed by Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942), in the form of a stylised flower decorated with a rich translucent blue enamel, the undulating petals evoking the shape of butterfly wings, centered with a cabochon moonstone with beaded decoration, suspending three moonstone drops graduated towards the center, with silver tendrils forming the loop and supporting a further cabochon moonstone on either side.
Length: 7cm
£9,850
For closely comparable pendants by Ashbee in museum collections, see the Delaware Art Museum in the United States for a stylised flower jewel in translucent red enamel centered by a cabochon amethyst (acquisition no. 1976-36) and the Powerhouse Collection in Australia for a stylised flower jewel decorated with translucent green enamel and peridots (acquisition no.: 85/190).
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The Guild of Handicraft was established by Charles Robert Ashbee in 1888. It was designed as a cooperative of craftsmen and women based on the structure of a medieval guild. The key principle was to liberate the working man from a life of pure subsistence, removing the need to undertake the dehumanizing, monotonous and unhealthy jobs which the Industrial Revolution had created. Ashbee believed that work itself should be intrinsically good, rewarding workers with skills, a community and a sense of purpose. It was crucial that the worker should not be separated from the products of their labour. The touch of their hand and the unique decisions they make when crafting an object bring it a greater beauty and quality.
The Guild became famous not only as an extraordinary social experiment, but also for the distinctive designs they created. The instantly recognizable tendrilous silver and jewellery which Ashbee conceived have become poster pieces for the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements, each one crafted by hand by one of The Guild’s silversmiths.
The Guild of Handicraft moved from Essex House on the Mile End Road in London to the medieval town of Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds in 1902. The silver workshop was taken over by guildsman George Hart when The Guild closed in 1907 and continues to be run by his descendants. Extraordinarily the work benches and tools used to craft this piece of silver remain in situ to this day.