Alex Brogden

Commissioned to commemorate David Peake’s year in office as Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company, 2003–2004.

The central motif of a lotus bud refers to Mr Peake’s country estate in Gloucestershire, Sezincote. The house was designed by Samuel Pepys Cockerell in 1805 in the Mogul style of Rajasthan, which was to influence George IV’s Brighton Pavilion. Humphrey Repton’s garden design at Sezincote incorporates Hindu-inspired elements. Brogden’s design drawing for the candelabrum places the budding lotus – emblematic of purity, spiritual rebirth and enlightenment – between the branches at the top of the spiralling stem.