The Newlyn Craft Revival

The artists’ enclave of Newlyn in Cornwall was not exclusively a colony of painters. In the 1890s the Newlyn Industrial Class was established by artist John D Mackenzie to provide education and an alternative source of income for the local fishermen. Crafts such as jewellery, copper, enamel work and textiles were encouraged from workshops on Champion Slip. The Guild of Handicrafts metalworker John Pearson taught there for seven years with the school remaining active for about 30 years.

While beaten copper vessels, fashioned with fish, galleons and other marine motifs, are the best known products of the Newlyn craft revival, the jewellery made there is equally distinctive. It is typically fashioned in silver together with enamel or cabochons of semi-precious stones.

^{An Arts & Crafts silver Newlyn enamel and labradorite necklace, c.1900. Estimate £500-700}

An excellent example comes for sale in our auction of Fine Jewellery & Watches on June 28. This Arts & Crafts necklace, c.1900 is set with plaques of shaded green and blue enamel and specimens of labradorite, the feldspar with pearly sheen first identified in Canada. Signed Newlyn Enamel to each plaque, it comes for sale with a guide of £500 - 700.

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