Margaret Gilmour, Attributed – Arts and Crafts Brass Planter with Kissing Birds

By Margaret Gilmour, attributed, a planter (jardinière) in brass aligned to the Arts and Crafts movement (1880–1910), c.1900, within the Glasgow School. The oval body is hand-embossed with paired “kissing birds” beneath arched stems and bead-punched borders, with side ring handles and small bun feet. The compact oval scale suits a hearth, windowsill or hallway table and reflects workshop production focused on domestic display.

The design vocabulary is in the style of Talwin Morris, whose Glasgow graphics and metalwork often deploy paired creatures, arched stems and dotted punch-work. Those elements, together with the repeated bead-punched bordering, align with Glasgow School metalwork associated with Gilmour’s studio around 1900, supporting the present attribution while stopping short of a signed example. The Glasgow Style (c.1890–1910) often favoured flattened, graphic silhouettes articulated in metal by surface tooling and punch-work; here the paired birds are framed by arched stems that read almost as a linear cartouche. Ring handles allow easy movement when planted, and the shallow bun feet raise the body clear of a surface. As presented, the form reads as a compact jardinière for indoor use.