Theo Raidan
Department Assistant
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Lot 43
PHIL BARNES: a unique silver and enamelled 'Blue Leaves' vase London 2015
5 July 2024, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£3,500 - £4,500
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Ellis Finch
Head of Knightsbridge Silver Department
PHIL BARNES: a unique silver and enamelled 'Blue Leaves' vase
London 2015
Plain polished body, the sides engraved and basse-taille enamelled in blue with leaves among trailing branches, further bright cut engraved leaves engraved to give more depth after enamelling, height 11.8cm, diameter at widest point 0.58cm, weight 8.1oz.
Plain polished body, the sides engraved and basse-taille enamelled in blue with leaves among trailing branches, further bright cut engraved leaves engraved to give more depth after enamelling, height 11.8cm, diameter at widest point 0.58cm, weight 8.1oz.
Footnotes
Provenance:
Private collection
Purchased from John Higgins Modern and Contemporary Silver selling exhibition July 2015.
PHIL BARNES (1952-2019)
Phil Barnes described the basse-taille technique, where the enamel is laid over a low relief engraved design giving variations of colour due to the different thicknesses of the enamel. A monotone effect is achieved with darker and lighter shades due to the variation of the depth of the engraving.
Phil's working life spanned more than fifty years as a full-time professional enameller. Phil Barnes began his enamelling career in 1967, at the age of fifteen, following in his father's footsteps. He completed his apprenticeship with his father's company C F Barnes & Co in 1971 and in the same year won the coveted Jacques Cartier "Craftsman of the Year" Memorial Award. The Cartier Award is given for work showing exceptional and outstanding craft skills, serving as a benchmark of the highest technical quality and Phil became the youngest ever recipient of the prized Cartier Award. He went on to become a working partner in the business and later set up his own workshop in Clapham, London following his father's retirement in 1983.
By 2017 Phil had been awarded thirty-five Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council awards for enamelling, engraving and designer finished pieces and in 2019 'Abstract Vase No. 1' was included into the Goldsmiths' collection. The passing on of knowledge was important to Phil and in 2019 he achieved his ambition to leave a written record of his way of working when his book 'Engraving and Enamelling – The Art of Champlevé' was published. This lot is recorded in this publication on page 107.
Literature:
Illustrated Phil Barnes, 'Engraving and Enamelling - The Art of Champlevé', (The Crowwood Press Ltd, 2019), page 107.
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