Lyon & Turnbull
Lot 227
STANLEY WEBB DAVIES (BRITISH 1894-1978) ARTS & CRAFTS BREAKFRONT LOW BOOKCASE CABINET, 1925 incised artist's mark and craftsman's mark inside the central door, oak, with glazed doors 137cm high, 254cm wide, 44.5cm deep (54in high, 100in wide, 23½in deep) Mallams, 23 June 2005, lot 44 Stanley Webb Davies belonged to the generation of designers whose principles echoed those of the Arts & Crafts visionaries William Morris and John Ruskin. He was opposed to industrialisation, instead placing the craftsman at the centre of production and believing the physical exertion of the making process benefited both the individual and by extension the society within which they lived. All his pieces are incised both with the SWD monogram and a craftsman’s mark, forever preserving the work of the cabinet maker and their link to each item.Davies developed a love of woodwork whilst at school, a passion intensified by his time in France during the First World War building huts for refugees. On his return to England, he worked for three years in Romney Green’s workshop before establishing his own business at Windemere in 1923.The influence of Romney Green and the broader Cotswold School is discernible in Davies’ designs: largely English timber, and decoration provided by constructional details, chamfering or at most a simple inlay.During its nearly forty years of production, the Windemere workshop employed between three and seven staff, building domestic, ecclesiastical, presentation and even office furniture. These pieces were largely completed as commissions, and it seems the firm was never particularly financially successful.