A remarkable modernist inkwell by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co.  Incredibly this design dates to 1900, the end of the Victorian period.  The slits in the silver, possibly representing stylized waves of the sea, also remind you of the avant garde canvases created by Lucio Fontana some 60 years after Knox’s work.

This model 500/31 appears in Dr Stephen Martin’s book “Archibald  Knox” page 223.

Maker:  Liberty & Co

Designer:  Archibald Knox

Date: 1900

Marks: L & Co, Birmingham, “a”

Material: Sterling silver, enamel

Size: 22 cm long

Photograph and description courtesy of The Peartree Collection.