Bowl
Leslie Durbin (1913 - 2005)
Category
Silver
Date
1949 - 1950
Materials
Silver, sterling
Measurements
10 x 27.2 cm; 27.2 cm (diameter of rim); 1095 g (Weight); 14.8 cm (diameter of base)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 516490
Summary
A large fluted bowl, silver (sterling), mark of Leslie Durbin, London, 1949/50. The bowl is raised from sheet silver and stands on a narrow applied collet foot. The indent of each flute is applied with a vertical band of three tapering wires to form a series of ribs. The interior rim is applied with a reeded border. Heraldry: None Scratch weight: None
Full description
Leslie Durbin (1913-2005) was one of Britain’s finest silversmiths of the 20th century, making objects as varied as processional crosses, maces, tableware, flatware, art medals, and designing coins for the Royal Mint. He also had an extraordinarily long career, starting at the age of thirteen when he won a London County Council Trade Scholarship to study silversmithing at the Central School of Arts & Crafts (CSAC), and working well into his eighties. In 1929 he was apprenticed to Omar Ramsden. Despite being a fantastic opportunity for the young Durbin, he was dismayed to learn that he was to be trained as a ‘chaser, engraver and decorator of precious metals’. Indeed he was so determined to learn all the skills of the silversmiths’ trade that he continued his education at the CSAC by attending lessons after work. Eight years later Durban won The Goldsmiths’ Company competition to design altar plate for the Chapel of Chivalry in the new Guildford Cathedral, which he made with five colleagues from the Central School. Completed just in time to be displayed as a focal point at the 1938 Exhibition of Modern Silverwork at Goldsmiths’ Hall, the altar plate was seen by 37,755 visitors including Queen Mary. At the exhibition Lord Baldwin, the Prime Minister, presented the Queen with a gift of a casket with a finial of gambolling lambs, designed and made by Durbin, and intended for her 12-year-old granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth. [1] Further gifts for the royal family followed, and only a year later he was commissioned to make a dish with enamelled totem pole finial to be given to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their tour of North America. Following the siege of Stalingrad, King George VI wished to honour its citizens for their heroism in defence of their city. A presentation sword was designed by RMYGleadowe who, finding his usual firm of silversmiths occupied with war work, asked the young Durbin to make the piece. It was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum and taken on a tour of fifteen British cities before being presented to Joseph Stalin by Winston Churchill in Tehran in November 1843. British Paramount’s film of Durbin making the sword in his workshop was widely shown and it is interesting to conjecture whether Lord Fairhaven, who acquired little contemporary silver, was prompted to acquire this bowl after seeing the film, or because he had seen Durbin’s work in the royal residences. Durbin went on to receive major commissions from around the world. His work has been, and continues to be, displayed in numerous exhibitions. Notes: [1] Vanessa Brett: Twentieth century silver from Clarence House, The Silver Society Journal, 2002, No 14, illustrated p 4 Jane Ewart, 2025
Provenance
(Urban) Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven (1896-1966) bequeathed by Lord Fairhaven to the National Trust along with the house and the rest of the contents National Trust
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, the Fairhaven Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
On the underside of the base: Hallmarks: ‘LGD’ (Leslie Durbin*), leopard’s head (London), ‘O’ (1949/50), and lion passant (sterling) * Rosemary Ransome Wallis: Treasures of the Twentieth Century: silver jewellery and art medals from the 20th Century Collection of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, 2000, p 179 On the underside of the base: Old NT Inventory Number: 'AA/S/99' On the inside of the flange: Current NT Inventory Number: '516490'
Makers and roles
Leslie Durbin (1913 - 2005), goldsmith