PECTORAL CROSS GIVEN TO POPE BENEDICT XVI BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY WAS MADE BY LEADING LONDON SILVERSMITH RICHARD FOX

THE PECTORAL CROSS which was presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Dr Rowan Williams to the new Pope, Benedict XVI, when they met for the first time in the Vatican on Monday May 25, 2005 was designed and made by leading London silversmith Richard Fox.  The cross was specially commissioned to be given by the Archbishop of Canterbury to mark the start of the new pontificate.
 Richard Fox said:  “It was a great privilege to have been asked by Lambeth Palace to design and make such a special gift to be presented to the new Pope and I feel very honoured that the cross, which was made in my Southwark workshop, has joined such an illustrious collection.”
 The silver cross, which measures 110mm by 80mm (41ž2 by 31ž4”) and weighs 110gms (4 troy ounces) is powerfully symbolic despite its simple shape.  The four points of the cross are set with square amethysts set in gold mounts and at its centre is another smaller gold Canterbury cross.  The celtic style of the central cross is based on that of a cross, which dates from the 850s AD, which was found in the late 19th century at Canterbury, hence its name.
 Richard explained: “By including a copy of the Canterbury cross we were confirming the link with Canterbury and the theme of the past, present and future is therefore fused in one simple but powerful symbol.”
 The cross was presented to the Pope in a specially made leather case with the inscription
A pectoral cross from his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Rowan Douglas Williams,
 to his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
on the occasion of the solemn inauguration of his pontificate
in St Peter’s Square on 24 April 2005. 
The original commission for His Holiness is of a Canterbury cross
in gold mounted on a silver cross set with amethysts. 
The Canterbury cross design is based on the Anglo-Saxon cross found in
the City of Canterbury, England.
The cross was hallmarked by the London Assay Office with the sign of the leopard’s head.
Jonathan Jennings, spokesman for Lambeth Palace, said: “This has been a remarkable commission; when it arrived here the day before the Archbishop left for Rome it was a very impressive moment.  The cross unites Christians of all denominations.  The Canterbury Cross at the centre of this piece is a reminder of the historic unity Anglicans and Roman Catholics share and the unity to which Christ is continually calling us.”
 The pectoral cross is now the third piece that Richard Fox has been commissioned to make for Lambeth Palace, which is now in the Vatican Collection.  The first was a chalice presented by Dr George Carey, the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, when he made an unofficial to the Pope John Paul II in 1992, and the second piece was a silver communion wafer box which was presented to the Pope on an official visit in 1995 to the Vatican also by Archbishop Carey.

Silver is traditionally associated with the Church – chalices, ciboriums, communion cups, patens, flagons, crosses and other items of church furnishings - are invariably made of silver.  In fact the development of the history of Christianity can often be traced through pieces of religious silver, its shapes, and the inscriptions and imagery that they bear.  Such silver pieces have also been given as Episcopal gifts through the ages and as a consequence the Church today continues to be a major patron of contemporary silversmiths.

Richard Fox and other leading British silversmiths are regularly commissioned to design and make silver for religious use in churches and cathedrals around the United Kingdom and abroad.  To see a selection of other silversmiths who make religious silver please click onto the Goldsmiths’ Company’s on-line directory www.whoswhoingoldandsilver.com.

Richard Fox will be exhibiting at this year’s Goldsmiths’ Fair at Goldsmiths’ Hall from Monday October 3 to Sunday October 9. 
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Images are available on request by email

Every one a winner

LONDON'S Elephant and Castle seems a far cry from the glitz and glamour of international motor racing - so it may come as a surprise to learn that in a small workshop nearby, silversmith Richard Fox makes the coveted trophies handed out at the world's Formula One events.

It was just nine weeks before the end of the 1995 season when Richard took a call from F1 impresario Bernie Ecclestone who, used to the furious pace of motor racing life, considered his request to design and create a newtrophy from scratch in time for the awards ceremony to be perfectly reasonable. Only on further questioning did Ecclestone reveal the true significance of the cup he was after - it was to serve as the now highly prized F1 World Championship Constructors Trophy.

"It was a somewhat daunting request, I have to admit," said Richard."I had started to get used to Bernie's way of doing things, but this was particularly nerve racking as the trophy was to represent the very pinnacle of Formula One racing."Fortunately my team rallied round without complaint, putting in an average of 10 working hours a day, plus several 24-hour stints, working solely on this commission. There was no question of missing the deadline - people who work in Formula One simply expect things to be done overnight."

Before Ecclestone instigated the constructors trophy, the hard-working creators of championship winning cars had to be content to receive what Ecclestone described as a "gong" - in other words a medallion - as reward for their efforts.

Having witnessed the meticulous craftsmanship which goes into every product from Richard's workshops it seems nothing short of remarkable that the trophy was actually completed inside the nine-week deadline.

In his usual way, Richard set to work with pencils and a large sheet of paper - by using a computer, he says, a designer is limited by his understanding of the machine - and began to rough out a graceful, well-balanced shape.

His parameters were partly set by the section of the FIA rule book which deems that such trophies should weigh no more than 5kg and be no taller than 550mm. In addition, this particular piece of silverware was to represent 100 years of racing car manufacture, past, present and future, and therefore had to be both of a timeless shape and sturdy enough to last until well over half way through the next century.

Richard created a vase-like form which stands just more than 17 inches high. Around the lip and capping the base are dozens of hand enamelled lotus leaves, the classical symbol of life. And, seamlessly blending the circular base and 10-sided body of the trophy together, is a circular "doughnut" decorated in black and gilt chequer.Each of the 10 sides of the trophy has sufficient space to accommodate a decade of winning manufacturers' badges, every one of which is meticulously enamelled in the correct style of the relevant period, a process which takes many hours.

The main body of the trophy can be turned each year, anti-clockwise, so that the winning constructor's badge is always facing the same direction as the legend "Formula One Constructors World Championship" engraved on the base.

The first team to win the award was Vanwall in 1958. This presented Richard with an immediate problem, because the team never had a badge in those days - the name Vanwall was simply written in white on an apple green car, so, with this in mind, something suitable was "invented" for the trophy.

The evolution of other team logos had to be carefully researched too - McLaren, for example, have employed three different designs and Williams changed its stylised W from green to black.

There are still 59 spaces left to be occupied by future winners, but for now they are filled with temporary enamels of chequered flags to ensure the trophy, currently back in the workshop for a polish and the fitting of another Ferrari badge, retains its fine geometric balance.

Close up, it is such an object of shining, smooth perfection it beggars belief that it began life as a flat metal disc which was formed into a cylinder with judicious but firm use of a hammer - known in the trade as "planishing."

Apparently, careful examination of the gilt interior of the cylinder reveals slight rippling left by the hammer, but to the layman looks as smooth as glass.

Richard's working relationship with Ecclestone has now spanned 15 years, starting with the FIA television trophy - a miniature satellite dish enamelled with a world map - which he created in 1984.

He has since been responsible for the World Rally Championship Winning Manufacturer Trophy, the FIA World Rally Trophy, the 100th Formula 3000> Race Trophy and the Formula One World Champion Driver Trophy to name but a few.

That last trophy, too, is another work of art, being decorated with a gilt spiral which runs from top to bottom, each step bearing the engraved signatures of a decade of Formula One champions.

But a nose around Richard's workshop revealed one particular award which, to my admittedly untrained eye, somehow failed to match the elegance of all the others.

Known as the Formula One Constructors' Association Award, it is presented annually for the best-organised Grand Prix of the season and takes the form of a decidedly gaudy, stylised racing car of the 1970s.

It turned out not to have been Richard's work at all - but that of Roy Jennings, a one-time member of the Great Train Robbery gang who had previously been a silversmith.On his release from prison he applied to Ecclestone for a job - and the trophy was the result.

Aesthetes may be pleased to learn, however, that after 2003 there will be no further space to engrave the names of future winners, meaning a new design might have to replace it...

TROPHY FACTS:

* Awards such as the Constructors' trophy take more than 150 hours to create.

* Ecclestone demands the best - and doesn't mind paying for it. Silver FI trophies from Richard's workshop often cost five-figure sums.

* Richard was originally chosen to make the first trophy afer Ecclestone picked his name at random from a list of top silversmiths supplied by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in the City of London.

* A single coat of ground glass which forms the enamel on the world map which decorates the FIA Television Trophy took 13 hours to apply using a tiny quill. It was then fired at 800 degrees C.

* Trophies are sometimes returned to the Elephant and Castle workshops for repair after being dropped and bent by over-enthusiastic recipients.

* Winners faced with the wrench of handing back a trophy so it can be presented to the next recipient often commission exact replicas to keep. Former Benetton MD Flavio Briatore ordered three!

* Richard became a professional silversmith after taking evening classes in jewellery design - his original intention was to follow a career based on maths and sciences.