- Museum number
- 1980,0614.2
- Description
-
Cream jug from coffee service; pewter, cast in several pieces, with a band of ribbed decoration below the spout and on the foot; handle in the form of a flat, curved strip.
- Production date
- 1930 (designed;circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 10.10 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- In set with 1980,0614.1
Text from J. Rudoe, 'Decorative Arts 1850-1950. A catalogue of the British Museum collection'. 2nd ed. no. 275.
After initial training in woodwork and stone-carving at the Kendal School of Art, Stabler became head of metalwork at the Keswick School of Industrial Arts in 1898. He left there in 1902 to work at the Liverpool University Art School and then went to London, where he was head of the John Cass Institute's Art School from 1907 to 1937. He also taught at the Royal College of Art from 1912 to 1926. After the First World War he became a partner in the Carter, Stabler & Adams Pottery at Poole, designed glass for mass-production and produced modern designs for metalwork which had a marked influence on English design of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1936 he was appointed one of the first Designers for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts.
The service to which these two pieces belong is an example of Stabler's successful designs for industry and it remained popular for a number of years; it was advertised in Design for Today iv, 1936, 150. at which time the coffee-pot, cream jug and sugar bowl together were sold at Heal's for £2 18s. The service was also made in electroplate: see Christie's, London, 27 January 1987, lot 37, a teapot and hot water jug, marked ' W. M. Hutton & Sons Improved Metal Silver Plated'. Stabler designed a service of rather similar shape and proportions which was produced in stainless steel by J. & J. Wiggin, Walsall, Staffordshire, c.1936 (G. Hughes, 'Modern Silver throughout the World 1880-1967', London 1967. pl. 144).
Stabler's other successful industrial designs include a coffee-set of c.1933 for Carter, Stabler & Adams Pottery (London 1979, Hayward Gallery, 'Thirties, British art and design before the war', 2.13l), tiles for London Transport of c.1939, heat-resistant glass of c.1931 for Chance Brothers, Birmingham (London 1979, 4.141 and a silver teaset of 1935 for Adie Brothers of Birmingham. which was also produced in electroplate; each piece was rectangular and fitted on to a rectangular tray (Birmingham 1973, City Museum and Art Gallery, 'Birmingham Gold and Silver 1773-1973', H. 105; Victoria and Albert Museum, 'British Art & Design 1900-1960', London 1983, 144-5 ; for a set with its original tray, see Christie's, London, 27 January 1988, lot 29). Stabler also designed a number of silver presen:ation pieces in the 1920s and 1930s, in particular for the Goldsmiths' Company (see London 1965, Goldsmith's Hall, 'The Worshipful Company as Patrons of their Craft 1919-53', 248-66). Stabler's decorative Chinese-style designs of the late 1920s and early 1930s, often octagonal in form, with curved handles and applied die-stamped ornament (e.g. Victoria and Albert Museum 1983, 114-15, a teaset of 1929-30, and Hughes 1967, pl. 324, a teaset of 1928) gave way from the mid 1930s to pieces in a more streamlined manner with little ornament, such as the Adie Brothers teaset or the centrepiece of 1938-9 for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway Company (in the Victoria and Albert Museum, M.13 and a-1948).
For a detailed account of the early history of W. Hutton & Sons, see J. Culme, 'The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths , Jewellers and Allied Traders 1838-1914', Woodbridge 1987. From the early 1900s they supplied Liberty & Co. and then became large-scale producers of flatware. The firm's director, Herbert Hutton, resigned in 1923 (see Hughes 1967, 235) and the goodwill of the company was transferred to James Dixon & Sons, Sheffield, in 1930.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1980
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1980,0614.2
