International studio (23.1904)

Omar Ramsden and A. C. E. Cart

“ In Memoriam ” gift for St. Mary Magdalene’s,
Bradford. Here the familiar vine symbol, in many
hands so trite, is used with distinction and sobriety
on the base and stem, while the cup itself is left
quite plain—a favourite method with these de-
signers. Many beautiful drinking-vessels for the
table and for ceremonial use are made on this
principle, both in silver and pewter, the plain bowl
showing the genuine hammer marks, the decoration
being reserved for the base and stem, and for the
handles, if any. Pierced or hammered lettering
also forms an important part of the decoration,
and in the ecclesiastical work—altar-crosses, flagons


REGIMENTAL TROPHY IN SILVER AND ENAMEL
BY O. RAMSDEN AND A. C. E. CARR

ar.d chalices, memorial tablets, and so forth—it is
studied and carried out with an uncommon beauty
and unconventionality of treatment. In secular
ornament, on the other hand, we are at once struck
with the originality, aptness, and often delightful
piquancy of the inscriptions.
The same unusual reticence is shown in the treat-
ment of those ceremonial presentation pieces which
are too often loaded with ornamental detail. The
silver trowel, for instance, which was made by
command of the City Corporation, and presented
to the last Lord Mayor, for the foundation stone
laying of the new Sessions House, Old Bailey, has
the blade left clean, while the ivory handle,
set with green enamels, has the stem richly
decorated with low-relief carving and chisel-
ling. The first aim has been to present a
straightforward and workmanlike tool, and not
a merely ornamental toy or exhibition model.
The work of Messrs. Ramsden and Carr in
this direction has been sought for quite a
number of public and official ceremonies, and
the trowels, keys, caskets, and so forth pre-
sented to Royalty on these occasions show a
welcome change from the stereotyped habit of
these things.
Another branch of ceremonial handicraft
in which Messrs. Ramsden and Carr have
made a notable departure is in the revival of
the municipal mace. His Grace the Duke of
Norfolk inaugurated this line of work for the
young designers at the outset of thtir career
by his commission for a mace for their native
city of Sheffield, and they have followed it
with singular success. The design for the
Sheffield mace, executed in an electrotype
replica, has been purchased by the Board
of Education for the Victoria and Albert
Museum—the only modern mace yet acquired
for the National Collection. The Board of
Education have also bought, and placed at
South Kensington, a hand-beaten and repousse
silver vase, wrought entirely from the sheet,
and mounted on Sienna marble with silver
fittings.
A commission that offered wide scope for
original and imaginative treatment was the regi-
mental trophy designed and wrought for the
officers of the Loyal North Lancashire Regi-
ment, in commemoration of the South African
War. Nothing could be more unlike the cum-
brous, pseudo-Renaissance vases and centre-
pieces too often palmed off upon military
patrons of decorative art. Local colour and

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