Description
Arts and Crafts Hukin & Heath Tea Pot, Attributed to Christopher Dresser, Silver plate on nickel with all over wood bark texture finish. Asymmetrical handle with twisted finial. RD no. 137119, C. 1895.
Biography: The firm of Hukin & Heath (1855-1953) was established by Jonathan Wilson Hukin and John Thomas Heath as manufacturing silversmiths and electroplaters. They entered silver marks in London in 1879, by which time they had established showrooms at 19 Charterhouse Street, Holborn (J.Culme, 'The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths, Jewellers and Allied Traders 1838-1914', Woodbridge 1987, 1, 243). The firm's collaboration with Dresser was noted by 'The Art Journal', 1879, 222: the showrooms were described as 'redolent of art', while the art works were produced without increasing the cost, exhibiting 'grace combined with the useful, simplicity and purity of form with readiness of application to the purposes to which they are to be applied'. Hukin & Heath also apparently made reproductions of Persian and Japanese models 'by the electric process' (i.e. electrotyped): 'such specimens, being selected by Dr Dresser, are of course always beautiful examples of art'. Hukin & Heath's trade mark comprised the initials 'H & H' with an eagle; they registered designs by Dresser from 1878 until at least 1881 and the models were produced into the early 1900s. The firm's design books were destroyed before it closed down in 1953. Hukin & Heath also had silver wares executed to Dresser designs which were hallmarked in London
Dimensions:8 x 6 1/2 x 4 1/2
Property from a Manhattan collection
(JOHN92)(MM)
