Coffer
Joseph Armitage (1880 - 1945)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1912
Materials
Walnut and iron.
Measurements
490 x 1320 x 470 mm
Order this imageCollection
Stoneywell Cottage, Leicestershire
NT 1702039
Caption
Sydney Gimson commissioned this carved walnut coffer, with iron strap work, to be made for his town house. It is designed by Joseph Armitage and was made circa 1912. In the 1930s, Armitage entered a competition to design the National Trust’s logo. He won with a similar oak leaf design to the one that can be seen on the coffer.
Summary
Coffer, carved walnut with iron strapwork, Joseph Armitage (1880-1945), c.1912.The coffer was commissioned by Sydney (1860-1938) and Jane 'Jeannie' Gimson (1859-1923) from Armitage, a Master at the Leicester College of Art, for their house at 20, Glebe Street, Leicester. The woodwork was completed by George Sharman, with the carving undertaken by Armitage. Sydney's expense book records that the Gimsons purchased the completed coffer for £12 in 1912. It was exhibited by the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society in 1916, from which it bears the exhibition label no. 2601. Armitage later designed the National Trust's oak leaf emblem, with the carved motifs on this coffer possibly an early forerunner of the design.
Provenance
Coffer commissioned by Sydney (1860-1938) and Jane ‘Jeannie’ Gimson (1859-1923) from Joseph Armitage (1880-1945) for £12 in 1912, for 20 Glebe Street, Leicester. Woodwork by George Sharman, carving by Joseph Armitage. Lent to the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, exhibition label no. 2601, 1916. Bequeathed to Basil Gimson (1887-1953) and furnished Five Oaks, Hampshire, then Stoneywell, Leicestershire from 1947. Thence by descent and on loan to the National Trust since 2012.
Makers and roles
Joseph Armitage (1880 - 1945), maker