Once they are appointed to the Goldsmiths’ Company Court of Assistants, members are invited to commission a silver court cup from a craftsperson of their choice. These pieces are then added to the Goldsmiths’ Company Modern Collection and are then used at many events including livery dinners. One of my clients, Robert Hayes, who was new to the role kindly asked me to design and make a cup. He also wanted to commission a complementary piece for his family’s collection, drawing on the same theme as some earlier Freesia and Stargazer tumblers that I made for him and his wife. They were designed to celebrate the couple’s wedding anniversary, in 2013.
The inspiration for both pairs of designs was a bridal bouquet, featuring freesias and Stargazer lilies. This evocative floral arrangement emanates from Suzette’s beautiful wedding bouquet, when she married Robert.
Robert is particularly fond of the distinctive forms of some early historic chalices within the Goldsmiths’ Company Collection and was keen for me to reference these in my new design. He also wanted to draw on some of the functional aspects within a collection of wine glasses belonging to him and Suzette. A third visual strand alluded to a similar profile shape for a chalice I had made for Eton College Chapel. That commission was the result of Robert kindly nominating me to the Friends of Eton Committee, which led to the creation of the Lily Chalice.
I studied the Goldsmiths’ Company Court cups in the vault at Goldsmiths’ Hall when I was researching chalices in general for the Eton commission. I noted how they were all different and also that there were no set sizes. I knew from that research that a bell-shaped bowl doesn’t spill or splash liquid as easily as conical shapes, so I designed with this in mind.
The Freesia and Stargazer Court Cups reflect these combined dynamics, emphasising the form in a harmonious flow of chasing. My main considerations with the shape of the design were that it had to be comfortable to hold and that one should be able to appreciate the tactility of the chasing. This incorporates stems and leaves growing upwards from the base, opening out into fully open flowers around the bowl. Two freesias and three Stargazers symbolise the Hayes’ family of five.
As the goblets were taller than Robert’s earlier pair of tumblers, I had much more room to play with, so could include more stems rather than just a section of them. The new Court Cups have more layers of flowers and stems twisting around each other and behind the flowers, with much less background space than my earlier tumbler designs, perhaps reflecting an evolution into more complex designs. Robert asked for a leopard’s head peeping out somewhere in the design on his cup and I included this as an engraved detail on the foot, with the leopard hiding behind a leaf with one eye visible, a subtle reference to the Goldsmiths’ Company’s logo.
I love to include hidden details in my pieces which are only visible when you handle them, or to the owner who can see all angles. This makes for a highly personal experience. A lily on the interior of the bowl was included in the Eton Chalice so I wanted to have it here too. It is a reflection of how there are two sides to human existence, the outer display and the inner beauty. The workings – the raw hammer and punch marks on the underside of the inner bowl, which allowed the transformation of the plain surface to one of inner beauty of the lily will never again be seen, only experienced by the maker themselves at the time of making it. Those hidden qualities are resonant too.
Both the two other chalice forms that I made before, for Eton and The Clothworkers’, were made with the same fabrication method, although they had two joins instead of one. In the court cups I asked for the stem to be spun in one piece, meaning the cups would only have one join. Stefan, the spinner, said that the stem thickened up a lot while he was spinning it in one piece, and said it was quite a challenge to do, however it certainly helped the chasing process in that I could chase the stem freely, without worrying it would crack or split at the join and have to be re-soldered. Anything which helps the free flow of the chasing process is a tremendous benefit from a maker’s point of view.
The Britannia silver cup is intricately worked using my specialist signature techniques of chasing, repoussé and snarling (repoussé from within a vessel). Robert wanted to echo the gilded details on his previous tumblers, which included larger areas of gold blended into the silver. As these Court Cups were already set to be quite detailed, I proposed just the small anthers of the lilies to be gilded, to add a touch of colour and pick out those details, which are the only engraved areas on the outside of the pieces. I used hammer and chisel engraving for the anthers, which Malcolm Appleby taught me. The two cups differ slightly in the extent of engraving on the anthers. This is because I reflected on it after doing one and wanted to preserve the background texture of the anthers in the simpler version. That has just one engraved line down the centre of each anther. I like the use of gilding on matt gold so didn’t completely cover the anthers in engraving like the other cup – sometimes simpler is better.
Malcolm did in fact kindly gift me a diverse collection of very special French and British vintage chasing tools when I visited to teach at his symposium in July 2024. I used many of these to create the subtle textures on the flowers and stems. Like Malcolm often does in his work, I designed the lettering in a free flowing and quirky style, to be a creative work in itself, rather than having a generic style of lettering applied. I feel this is important with unique, handmade artistic works. James Neville beautifully hand engraved this lettering on the base of the cup, in sections which I had allotted for the inscription.
This commission was somewhat challenging, one reason was the repetitive chasing which led me to need more breaks in between work sessions and to not do too much at a time. This led to a longer time in completing them. The second reason is because it was the second major silver commission that I completed since giving birth to my daughter. Balancing family life with work commitments was particularly challenging this year due to constant illness, sleep deprivation and repetitive strain injuries. Once the finishing line was in sight, I was grateful and happy about all of my achievements in 2024. I have the viewpoint that each of my works should be a development of the previous ones, either in style, approach, skill, inspiration, or complexity. I had a vision while designing these cups and wanted to stay true to this, and create works of art which will, I hope, last centuries to come.
Below is a selection of images from the process. Visit my gallery for other major pieces or take a look at my shop page for pieces available to purchase.
