Description
A beautiful and rare hand crafted Arts and Crafts dress clip by William Thomas Blackband, c1910. As luck would have it, two Blackband dress clips came to me within the last few weeks. So lovely to see them together…the final few images show both clips together. The Ruskin plaque clip is for sale separately. Blackband was held in such high esteem for his jewellery design and execution that he eventually went on to become Headmaster of the Vittoria Street School of Jewellery in Birmingham.
This beautiful example is so, so lovely, not only in its typical naturalistic design (showing the same stylised oak leaves as on other examples sold over recent years) but also in the contrasting creamy white blister pearl at the centre of the design. It is a shimmering, creamy, strong example and so beautifully set. These dress clips make wonderful pendants – I have demonstrated it as a pendant with one of my own chains (not included in the sale).
This has been precision executed and it really is a delight to see how fine Blackband’s work is. The clearly defined oak leaves, arranged at the top corners of the design and draping down the side. The small silver berries placed strategically and with a typical three grouping to punctuate the bottom of the design.
The hand hammered silver used for the clip’s fastener reflects further the excellent attention to detail. It’s a beauty!
It measures approx 3.4cm by 2cm. In excellent order with a good fastening action.
