Tray
Item
Title
Tray
Creator
Benedict Studios
Date
1907-10 (ca.)
Dimensions
20 3/4 inches (d)
Medium
Copper
Object No.
2002.19.3
Credit line
Gift of Bettina and Joe Gleason
Marks
Struck on back: shop mark (bee in quatrefoil surrounded by diamond) / "1 0 0"
Description
Benedict Studios, successor to Onondaga Metal Shops, is amongst the best-known of Stickley's local competition and relied heavily upon the aesthetics he promoted for the design of their own wares. This tray is, for all intents and purposes, a replica of Serving Tray (no. 346) which Stickley introduced in his catalog "Hand-Wrought Metal Work: Wrought Iron, Hammered Copper, and Brass" by about 1907.
While the designs are identical, it is the craftsmanship that often distinguishes the Benedict pieces from the models they were based on. Benedict tended to use a thinner gauge copper which lends their work a less-refined and "finished" feel. Tempting as it is to condemn Benedict for appropriating Stickley's designs, it is useful remember that this was a practice Stickley himself employed. Many of his earliest designs in metal were replicas of works by Norman and Ernest Spittle, a Birmingham, England firm whose works were retailed in London by Art Fittings, Ltd.
While the designs are identical, it is the craftsmanship that often distinguishes the Benedict pieces from the models they were based on. Benedict tended to use a thinner gauge copper which lends their work a less-refined and "finished" feel. Tempting as it is to condemn Benedict for appropriating Stickley's designs, it is useful remember that this was a practice Stickley himself employed. Many of his earliest designs in metal were replicas of works by Norman and Ernest Spittle, a Birmingham, England firm whose works were retailed in London by Art Fittings, Ltd.