A pierced silver “pomegranite” bowl by Ashbee’s Guild of Handicraft

Price range: £3,250

A Guild of Handicraft silver bowl designed by Charles Ashbee.  This bowl is of a classic early Guild of Handicraft design that can bee seen in some of the earliest illustrations and photos of the Guild’s work. Unusually this bowl has a pomegranate design.  Given the symbolism of pomegranates for fertility this was likely a commission for a wedding gift.   This particular bowl dates to 1904. A really lovely piece in the hand it is one of the larger and heavier examples I have seen.

A contemporary photo of Guild of Handicraft’s exhibits in the November 1896 Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society shows a bowl similar to this one. A similarly designed bowl was also published in “Modern English Silverwork by Ashbee in 1909, plate 97.  An image from Studio Magazine 1897 showing Guild of Handicraft workers making bowls similar to this is shown in other images. For further reading see Alan Crawford’s book “C.R. Ashbee” published by Yale University Press.

Condition is excellent. There is one noticeable long scratch to the interior that could be removed if preferred.

Maker: Guild of Handicraft
Designer: Charles Robert Ashbee
Date: 1904
Marks: GofH Ltd, London, date letter “i”
Material: Sterling silver
Condition: Excellent.
Size: 20.5 cm diameter, 5.5 cm high
Weight: 347 g 12.2 oz