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Chalice

Ref: 2477
  • Designer / Maker

    Designed and manufactured by Alfred James

  • Detail

    Silver

    Height: 14 cm

    English (probably Cirencester), circa 1905-10

  • Marked

    ‘A J’ under base

  • Provenance

    Presumably Alfred James; […]; Peter Cameron, 2021

  • Collection

    Private collection

  • Notes

    This heavy-gauge silver chalice expresses the Arts & Crafts Movement’s debt to the Gothic Revival.  The form is directly based on mediaeval prototypes, but the light hammer-marks on the unadorned bowl, together with the plain stem and base, are in keeping with the spirit of Arts & Crafts manufacture.

    Alfred James lived at Edgeworth Manor, Cirencester.  He is thought to have been an accomplished and presumably comfortably-off amateur, who made things mainly for his own pleasure.  Thus, this chalice has no more than his mark and does not bear an assay mark.

    Jones made a chalice for his local church, St Mary the Virgin; he is also thought to have made some of his own furniture, as well as being a patron of Peter Waals.

    For James’ mark, see John Culme, The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths … 1838-1914, II, Woodbridge, 1987, p. 12, 781-783.  Mark registered 4 August 1905.

    Acknowledgment: Peter Nellist