A SILVER-PLATED CENTREPIECE-BOWL

Millicent Fanny Sutherland-Leveson, Duchess of Sutherland (1867-1955) was a famed society hostess and social reformer. During her lifetime the Duchess wrote two novels, married three times and gave birth to four children. As a social reformer she campaigned for the elimination of the use of lead in pottery glazing in the Staffordshire potteries, and formed several organizations to help children. One such organization, The Duchess of Sutherland's Cripples Guild, was founded in 1898. It aimed to provide children with medical treatment and to instruct them in a trade or craft. By 1902, there were 100 girls and boys who were taught in the guild, and it was in this year that art metalwork began to be produced under the guidance of Francis Arthur Edwards. They often copied or adapted designs from historical examples, much like this bowl with its ancient Grecian form. The guild had, for a time, a showroom on Bond Street in London.