Featured Antique but not ancient coffer

Discussion in 'Furniture' started by Sedona, Aug 6, 2017.

  1. Sedona

    Sedona Well-Known Member

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    Hi, all.

    What we call the "monkey chest" has been in our family for about 50 years. It is a paneled, well carved coffee with a monkey on one panel and what looks like a demon on the other. As best as I can tell the "W.H. Mawson carver" seems to indicate this came from an arts and crafts school in Victorian England. It is my guess that the piece was carved by a teacher or a student for a project.

    If anyone has any information, or thoughts as to value, I would appreciate it. I don't know if it is one of a kind or many were made.
     
  2. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

  3. lauragarnet

    lauragarnet Well-Known Member

    Good link Debora! I especially like the The Keswick School of Industrial Art motto: 'The Loving Eye and Patient Hand Should Work With Joy and Bless This Land'

    This is interesting:
    ...'All wood carving will be from the solid, in low relief, and suitable for furniture. No fretwork will be allowed.

    And this:
    ...Apparently every article made at the School was stamped with the school mark, with nothing been allowed to be sold by individual members. However pieces are seen which are attributable to KSIA (as they are to the same design as stamped pieces) unmarked and others are seen with the stamp of W H Mawson and E Harrison....

    Here's another link with additional info specifically about William Henry Mawson of Keswick. (Scroll down the page to see the write-up about him)...
    http://ksia.co.uk/history.html

    He opened his own set of shops called The Keswick Home Industry that took up alot space about 1900-1901. The writers at the link also speculate part of the reason he set up his own shop was because he wanted to be able to mark his work.

    Also, he was like us! He looked for, collected and sold antiques in addition to the handmade items he and other graduates of the Keswick School of Industrial Arts made.

    Internet searches bring up lots of his metal work, but have only been able to find one other piece of carved wood furniture.

    Scroll down to the bottom of page to find this picture:
    [​IMG]
    401 19th century high back Welsh carved seat, engraved W.H Mawson Carver 40-80
     
  4. Sedona

    Sedona Well-Known Member

    Thanks. That last word was hard to read. So, do you think it was made at the school? In looking at paneled coffers, my guess is that it was modeled after one.

    Also, is there any symbolism in the monkey and what appears to be a demon-like person on the front? Or, maybe he is the Green Man. His ears are pointed. The monkey (which has a baby on its back) is on the left panel.
     
    Ghopper1924 likes this.
  5. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    I see two monkeys, although one seems to have more human-like features. It may be an allusion to the idea that there is not all that much difference between monkey and the baser man. This would be an important piece. If selling, you probably should have it evaluated by a reputable auction house or dealer in arts and crafts movement furnishings.
     
    Ghopper1924 and Debora like this.
  6. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    That, here, is a well into four figures piece. I'd be emailing Christies about it. But I'd also not part with it.
     
  7. Sedona

    Sedona Well-Known Member

    Thank you, all. I appreciate it. We intend to keep it, as we have a 1920s Spanish house, and it is a perfect place to store our linens for our formal dining room. My husband grew up with it in his parents' Spanish house. When they furnished their house in the late 60s-early 70s they bought reproduction pieces (e.g. Dining room set) and antiques.
     
    Ghopper1924 likes this.
  8. Sedona

    Sedona Well-Known Member

    **UPDATE**

    I know this is an older post. A few weeks ago I tried to locate Ian Bruce, who wrote a book in 2001 about the Keswick School for the Industrial Arts (KSIA) entitled “The Loving Eye and Skilful Hand: The Keswick School of Industrial Arts.”

    The only thing I could find online was that in 2015 he was part of a historical program held in Cumbria. I took a gamble and emailed the organization that hosted the event. A woman named Helen answered, and searched their old email records and found a contact email for Ian Bruce.

    I then emailed Ian Bruce, and sent him photos. He just responded today. Because so many responded here, and gave me information about the Keswick school, I wanted to share the response.

    William Henry Mawson was first recorded as a pupil at KSIA in 1898, when he won first prize at the school. He is recorded as working at the school and paid wages in 1899. By 1903 he had left, and later established an antiques business at Lake Road in Keswick. From there he carried out metalwork commissions and carving.

    Ian said the chest clearly originated from the time Mawson operated the business on Lake Road in Keswick. Workers at KSIA were not allowed to mark their work with anything other than the official school mark, described as the letters KSIA arranged in a lozenge.

    During Mawson’s period of independent working, both his metalworking and carving were marked with his mark W.H. Mawson. He also used a mark K.H.I. (Keswick Home Industries). This mark may have been adopted because Mawson bought and sold the work of outworkers (working at home) or other craftsmen in Keswick.

    Ian said I can be certain that the chest was executed by Mawson’s own hand.

    No production records survived, so it cannot be known if this was a commissioned piece, or made from stock. KSIA taught both metalwork and carving, and frequently copied historic designs drawn from illustrations, often from Renaissance designs. Ian said that occasionally one finds a historic reference from which the design is drawn. Ian said he knew of no other piece of carving similar to the chest, but that it was a fine piece of work by a master craftsman.

    Anyway, this is all very cool, to me. I have no artistic or creative talent, but I greatly admire those who do. I have so many antique pieces of unknown origin. That I now know who worked so hard and so masterfully, that my family admires and cherishes it over a century after it left the shop, is wonderful. I admire it even more!

    Thank you all who responded to my initial inquiry. I never would have been able to get this information.
     
  9. verybrad

    verybrad Well-Known Member

    Thanks for updating us. Glad you appreciate and are keeping this.
     
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