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Claret jug

Designer Designed by Archibald Knox British
Manufacturer Manufactured by W.H. Haseler
for the firm of Liberty & Co. British
1900–1901
Not on view
Founded in 1875, Liberty　& Company had many parallels with Siegfried Bing's Paris shop L'Art Nouveau. By importing fashionable designs from continental Europe and Asia, as well as exporting their own designs abroad, Liberty would become one of the most successful of the department stores with the policy of commissioning designs from leading artists and architects of the day. Indeed, the firm's importance is reflected in the Italian term, lo stile Liberty, or "Liberty style," which is often used to generically describe avant-garde taste from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Knox was one of Liberty's most popular and prolific designers, in particular producing designs for silver goods, the best known of which were the Tudric line and the Cymric line, of which this claret jug is an example. Though it may superficially recall the aesthetics of contemporaneous French Art Nouveau, the jug is uniquely British in drawing aesthetic inspiration from traditional Celtic designs. Its flat disk base effectively grounds the jug's sinuous decorative curves and remarkable flyaway thumbpiece.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Claret jug
  • Designer: Designed by Archibald Knox (British, 1864–1933)
  • Manufacturer: Manufactured by W.H. Haseler
  • Maker: for the firm of Liberty & Co. (British, founded London, 1875)
  • Date: 1900–1901
  • Culture: British, Birmingham
  • Medium: Silver, chrysoprase
  • Dimensions: Overall (with handle): 11 13/16 × 6 3/8 in. (30 × 16.2 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Silver
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1992
  • Object Number: 1992.346
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

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Jardinière, Archibald Knox British, Glazed, high-fired terracotta, British
Jardinière
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1900–1905
Vase, Archibald Knox British, Silver, turquoise, British, Birmingham
Vase
Archibald Knox
Liberty & Co.
1903
Clock, Archibald Knox British, Pewter and enamel
Clock
Archibald Knox
Liberty & Co.
1900–1905
Coronation spoon, Archibald Knox British, Silver and enamel
Coronation spoon
Archibald Knox
Liberty & Co.
1902
Vase, Archibald Knox British, Pewter
Vase
Archibald Knox
Liberty & Co.
ca. 1900–1910

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