Tea Service: Tray

As the name of this pewter tea and coffee service indicates, Archibald Knox, the main designer for the department store Liberty & Company, drew inspiration from Celtic designs. The restrained knots and angled lines seen in this set, along with the attenuated plant forms in the work of the Glasgow School in Scotland, were hallmarks of the Art Nouveau in Great Britain. The Celtic Revival was part of the British reaction against the perceived decadence of the Art Nouveau as practiced in Continental Europe. Liberty, the leading British purveyors of both domestic and Continental Art Nouveau design, became synonymous with the style at the beginning of the century.