Mary Thew (1876-1953). An Arts & Crafts Scottish silver opal, emerald and blue agate clip...

Mary Thew (1876-1953). An Arts & Crafts Scottish silver opal, emerald and blue agate clip brooch, attributed to Mary Thew, of triangular form with bezel set cabochon opals and blue agates, and mixed cut emeralds, within wirework, bead and foliate surround, to clip, unmarked, length 5.5cm

Provenance: a private London collection

Mary Thew, born in Hillhead, Glasgow in 1876 was a Scottish arts and crafts jeweller. She spent a short amount of time studying at Glasgow School of Arts, before marrying her husband James Mursell Thew in 1903. James Thew was an engineer who enjoyed silversmithing, making pieces for his wife. Through this, Mary fostered her own interest in the craft, making her own designs. After only a few years of marriage, however, James died. Left with a young son to care for, Mary turned her hobby into a professional career. She took a short course of four lessons with renowned Arts and Crafts Jewellery Rhoda Wager.
From 1911 Thew was a member of the Glasgow School of Lady Artists, and won the Society's Lauder Award for a case of jewellery in 1925. Thew also became a member of the "Green Gate Close Coterie" having befriended Jessie M. King and her husband E. A. Taylor whilst attending the Glasgow School of Art together. The coterie was a group of artists and artisans who came to live year round or for part of the year in Kircudbright, where King and Taylor had settled after returning from Paris.
Records from a 1939 newspaper article by Muirhead Moffat show that she produced a large breadth of objects in her career, from brooches and necklaces to butter-forks and crosses. Her works are more often unsigned than not, but a select amount bears her maker's signature of a dotted T.
Travelling to Fiji, and beyond to Australia in 1913, her unique style of free-flowing silver wire with trails and beads is inspired by the foreign jewellery she encountered on her travels. A brooch by Thew in this style is held in the Victoria & Albert museum collections.

Literature
cf. The Glasgow Style 1890-1920, Glasgow Museums Department of Decorative Art, p. 49-50
Tadema Gallery London Jewellery from the 1860s to 1960s, Beatriz Chadour-Sampson & Sonya Newell-Smith, cat. no. 571
Jewelry & metalwork in the Arts & Crafts Tradition, Elyse Zorn Karlin, p.142-143
The Glasgow Style, Gerald & Celia Larner, pl.193 & 194