A rare Arts and Crafts silver centrepiece / tazza

Henry Wilson, circa 1904

Henry Wilson, circa 1904
Commissioned to commemorate the Golden Wedding of Charles and Susan Trask in 1904, gifted to them by their children, who on the bowl are represented by nine sets of applied initials and gold roundels corresponding to their zodiac signs.
The circular bowl is finely embellished with fine wire-work, bands with applied lozenge and gold beads, raised on three pairs of elongated tapering supports, the underside of the bowl with a spiralling fluted design, the bowl is centred with a removable seated female figure of Fate, who is spinning out her thread with fine wire forming the initials of their first born son Charles Joseph who died in infancy. A small golden butterfly above the initials symbolises the resurrected human soul. The figure is above five curved supports with open-work naturalistic applications, on a circular base, the whole on a carved ebonised wood plinth, height overall 41cm, diameter of bowl 30.5cm, weight 90oz.

The Property of a Private European Collector. 'The Seawolf Collection'

Provenance
Charles and Susan Trask thence by descent to Nicholas Trask in 1979 (the current lot is sold with an accompanying copy of a letter from Nicholas Trask).
Private sale.
The Seawolf Collection.
Published in 'The Seawolf Collection, a personal touch, late 19th and 20th century silver', illustrated on pages 68-69, published by Rotterdam: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen: NAi Publishers in Association with Veena Duncker, VD Private Collections, Munich, 2003. Published to accompany a travelling exhibition.

The Trask family lived at The Court House Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, they owned the Ham Hill quarry and were a noted family in the village with strong church connections. Henry Wilson knew the Trask family and collaborated with their firm Charles Trask & Sons to execute his designs, for furniture and stonework, mainly for churches and public buildings.
Henry Wilson was also the architect for the restoration of the Trask family's parish church, St Mary's at Norton-sub-Hamdon. Here Wilson also designed the East Window of the South Chapel to commemorate the Trask Golden Wedding in 1904.

Henry Wilson (1864-1934) was a British architect, metalworker, jeweller and designer.
He was to become one of the most original and versatile practitioners of the Arts and Crafts style and a pioneering silversmith. Wilson spent much of his career teaching, as such he created few pieces of domestic silver. He taught in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and from 1901 taught metalwork at the Royal College of Art, publishing his seminal book practical manual Silverwork and Jewellery in 1903.
He became a Master of the Art Workers Guild in 1917 and President of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (1915-22).

A similar figure to this lot surmounts the lid of a dish made by Henry Wilson is held at The Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The museum notes Wilson made two chafing dishes at about the same time, showing one at the Ghent exhibition of 1913 (catalogue number 1020) and at the Paris Exhibition of British Decorative Arts held in 1914 (catalogue number 806). Guthlac Wilson, Henry Wilson's son, lent one of the two dishes to the exhibition, Victorian and Edwardian Decorative Arts, 1952 which was subsequently acquired by the Goldsmiths' Company.