Doe and Hope

Description

Of an elegant circular form, beaten from a single sheet of copper to form a semi globular shape, with an applied rope-twist rim, sitting on three round brass feet. There is a clear maker’s stamp “Dryad Lester 30” on the underside.
This bowl was made at the Dryad Handicrafts and Metal Work Company, set up in Leicester, by Harry Hardy Peach, in 1912. Peach believed that the efficiency of industry was compatible with the individual flair of the artist, The formalised but nonetheless elegant design and hand-crafted feel is testament to Peach’s attitudes towards design – that the creative flair of the artist did not have to conflict with the efficiency of industry.
According to his biographer, Pat Kirkham, 'Harry Peach was all for progress what he was against was the wanton destruction of what he regarded as the cultural heritage of the British people', he was also a keen folk dancer and campaigner for rural England. William H. Pick, an accomplished former student of the Coalbrookdale School of Art, went on to found Collins and company, which specialised in metalwork, jewellery and silver.