An Arts and Crafts silver-mounted coconut cupJohn Paul Cooper, London 1926
A sideways hollowed out polished coconut, surmounted by a silver double rope-twist rim, to one end a chased and pinned silver foliate motif, the whole raised on a silver decorative diamond-shaped stem separated by four rope-twist columns, the panels between embossed in alternate rhythmic patterns featuring beaded laurel leaves and Egyptian lotus flowers, atop a domed and spot hammered diamond-shaped foot, with reeded and rope-twist borders, on four ball feet, width 16cm, height 17cm, weight total 9.5oz.FootnotesJohn Paul Cooper (1869-1933) was born into an affluent family in Leicester, on the 3rd of October 1869. His father, John Harris Cooper (1832-1906) was a self-made man, who became the senior partner in a large, prosperous machine knitting company, which bore the name Messrs Cooper, Corah and Sons, which later became Corah Plc (which still exists today). His mother was Fanny Loder (1834-1921), the daughter of an antiquarian bookseller.
Not wanting to join the family firm, Cooper decided to train as an architect. As such, from 1888 up until 1891, he was articled to the architect John Dando Sedding (1838-1891) in London. In the 1890s he made various alterations to the St. Margaret's Works factory complex owned by his father's textile company, later designing an infants' school and several cottages. However, at the advice of Henry Wilson (1864-1934), who had worked as Sedding's assistant, Cooper took up art metalwork and in the late 1890s set up a workshop at 16 Aubrey Walk, Campden Hill, London, where he began making his first jewellery. It was in 1899 that he met May Morgan Oliver (1876-1954), a skilled art metalworker and jewellery designer, with whom he collaborated. The couple went on to marry in 1901, which was the year Cooper decided to move to Birmingham to take up a teaching post in the Metalwork Department of Birmingham Municipal Art School, becoming head of the department from 1904 to 1907. This sojourn introduced Cooper to Arts and Crafts politics, which played an integral part in his creative thinking and processes, 'the manoeuvring for power and position to further the Craft Crusade' (Kuzmanovic, p.xvi).
With the money he inherited following the death of his father in 1906, Cooper was able to give up teaching, moving with May and their children to a new life in Kent. After initially living in rented accommodation in Hunton, they moved into a house he had designed himself on Betsom's Hill, near Westerham, Kent. He had also ensured that the property was fully-equipped with a comprehensive workshop and studio.
Cooper went on to become one of the key figures in the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was influenced and inspired by the idealism of John Ruskin and William Morris, and was a contemporary of Archibald Knox. Cooper's work was characterised by an unconventional use of materials, including ostrich egg, coconut shell and shagreen, combined with precious and semi-precious stones, gold, silver and copper. In terms of his silver mounted coconut cups and bowls, these first appeared as part of his body of work between 1911 and 1915. The design for these pieces typically consisted of a circular foot, a stem whose height and style were dictated by the coconut's shape and the desire to achieve a particular proportional effect; and the actual coconut which had been previously cleaned and polished. Fourteen mounted coconut pieces were made during this period. During the 1920s, Cooper executed a further twenty one silver mounted coconuts, one of which is the lot on offer today.
Work such as the above were regularly entered into the 'Arts and Crafts Society' exhibitions, and in 1908 he became an active member of the influential 'Art Workers Guild'. Between 1908 and 1915 much of Cooper's work was sold through the 'Artificers' Guild' in London. Notable among Cooper's commissions was the 'Sword of Honour' presented to Earl Haig, the 'Leicester Freedom Casket' presented to William Wilkins Vincent, Mayor of Leicester, and a silver casket for the ashes of the actress Ellen Terry.
After an illustrious and varied career, John Paul Cooper died at Betsom's Hill, Kent on the 3rd of May 1933.
Literature
N Natasha Kuzmanovic, 'John Paul Cooper - Designer and Craftsman of the ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT', (Sutton Publishing: Stroud, 1999)
An Arts and Crafts silver-mounted coconut cupJohn Paul Cooper, London 1926
A sideways hollowed out polished coconut, surmounted by a silver double rope-twist rim, to one end a chased and pinned silver foliate motif, the whole raised on a silver decorative diamond-shaped stem separated by four rope-twist columns, the panels between embossed in alternate rhythmic patterns featuring beaded laurel leaves and Egyptian lotus flowers, atop a domed and spot hammered diamond-shaped foot, with reeded and rope-twist borders, on four ball feet, width 16cm, height 17cm, weight total 9.5oz.FootnotesJohn Paul Cooper (1869-1933) was born into an affluent family in Leicester, on the 3rd of October 1869. His father, John Harris Cooper (1832-1906) was a self-made man, who became the senior partner in a large, prosperous machine knitting company, which bore the name Messrs Cooper, Corah and Sons, which later became Corah Plc (which still exists today). His mother was Fanny Loder (1834-1921), the daughter of an antiquarian bookseller.
Not wanting to join the family firm, Cooper decided to train as an architect. As such, from 1888 up until 1891, he was articled to the architect John Dando Sedding (1838-1891) in London. In the 1890s he made various alterations to the St. Margaret's Works factory complex owned by his father's textile company, later designing an infants' school and several cottages. However, at the advice of Henry Wilson (1864-1934), who had worked as Sedding's assistant, Cooper took up art metalwork and in the late 1890s set up a workshop at 16 Aubrey Walk, Campden Hill, London, where he began making his first jewellery. It was in 1899 that he met May Morgan Oliver (1876-1954), a skilled art metalworker and jewellery designer, with whom he collaborated. The couple went on to marry in 1901, which was the year Cooper decided to move to Birmingham to take up a teaching post in the Metalwork Department of Birmingham Municipal Art School, becoming head of the department from 1904 to 1907. This sojourn introduced Cooper to Arts and Crafts politics, which played an integral part in his creative thinking and processes, 'the manoeuvring for power and position to further the Craft Crusade' (Kuzmanovic, p.xvi).
With the money he inherited following the death of his father in 1906, Cooper was able to give up teaching, moving with May and their children to a new life in Kent. After initially living in rented accommodation in Hunton, they moved into a house he had designed himself on Betsom's Hill, near Westerham, Kent. He had also ensured that the property was fully-equipped with a comprehensive workshop and studio.
Cooper went on to become one of the key figures in the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was influenced and inspired by the idealism of John Ruskin and William Morris, and was a contemporary of Archibald Knox. Cooper's work was characterised by an unconventional use of materials, including ostrich egg, coconut shell and shagreen, combined with precious and semi-precious stones, gold, silver and copper. In terms of his silver mounted coconut cups and bowls, these first appeared as part of his body of work between 1911 and 1915. The design for these pieces typically consisted of a circular foot, a stem whose height and style were dictated by the coconut's shape and the desire to achieve a particular proportional effect; and the actual coconut which had been previously cleaned and polished. Fourteen mounted coconut pieces were made during this period. During the 1920s, Cooper executed a further twenty one silver mounted coconuts, one of which is the lot on offer today.
Work such as the above were regularly entered into the 'Arts and Crafts Society' exhibitions, and in 1908 he became an active member of the influential 'Art Workers Guild'. Between 1908 and 1915 much of Cooper's work was sold through the 'Artificers' Guild' in London. Notable among Cooper's commissions was the 'Sword of Honour' presented to Earl Haig, the 'Leicester Freedom Casket' presented to William Wilkins Vincent, Mayor of Leicester, and a silver casket for the ashes of the actress Ellen Terry.
After an illustrious and varied career, John Paul Cooper died at Betsom's Hill, Kent on the 3rd of May 1933.
Literature
N Natasha Kuzmanovic, 'John Paul Cooper - Designer and Craftsman of the ARTS & CRAFTS MOVEMENT', (Sutton Publishing: Stroud, 1999)
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