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Burges Decanter
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Title/s
Burges Decanter
Maker/s
Burges, William (designer) [ULAN info: British architect, 1827-1881]
Mendelson, Josiah (mount maker)
Angell, George (mount maker)
Category
glass
silver
Name
decanter
School/Style
Description
Green glass, mounted in silver set with malachite, semi-precious stone, cloisonné enamels, coral cameos, intaglios, classical coins, ivory and rock crystal
Dark green blown glass body, mounted in silver with applied and engraved ornament, set with malachite panels, semi-precious stone, cloisonné enamels, two 17th century coral cameos each of a nymph's head, one of Cupid holding a basket, and another of Cupid holding a garland, a Roman first century AD nicolo intaglio of a sleeping hound, a Sassanian 5th or 6th century cornelian intaglio of a personal device Greek, Roman and Byzantine coins, and on the cover, a Chinese rock crystal Buddhist lion. The cast silver handle is in the form of a lion with an ivory head, and the spout is cast in the form of an antelope's head with a silver stopper attached by a chain. The foot is engraved with a hedgehog, a frog, a mouse, and a wren with a worm in its beak, and the 'signature' 'I WREN' for Jenny Wren. The partly obscured inscription on the neck reads: WILLIELMUS BURGES ME FIERI FECIT ANNO DI MDCCLXV EX HONS ECCL[ESI]AE CONSTANTINOPOLITANAE
Production Notes
William Burges was one of the most talented English architects of the High Victorian Gothic Revival. His eclectic taste, love of vivid colouring, and super-abundant inventive powers broought forth a stram of idosyncratic designs for buildings and domestic objects. This decanter demonstrates his flair for combining disparate elements to create an aesthetically satisfying whole. Burges had already conceived the design in 1858, when a similar vessel was shown with several pieces of metalwork in a watercolour serving as the frontispiece of his Orfèvrerie Domestique (RIBA Drawings collection). On the 10th, 11th and 12th sheets of this, there are further drawings for the decanter, the last of which is dated 1864. It was made in 1865 as were two variants: one made for Burges himself, now in the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford; the other made for James Nicholson, and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see Documtation). The decoration of the mounts is reminiscent of early medieval crucifixes studded with re-used Roman cameos, intaglios, and uncut gemstones. The foliage applied to the body is also medieval in inspiration, as are the animals humorously engraved on the foot. The inscription indicates that Burges paid for the decanter from the fees which he had received for his prize-winning design of 1856 and later modifications to it, for the Crimea Memorial Church in Constantinople. This, like several of his architectural projects, was never built because its estimated cost proved too high.
Production Place
London (designer) (place)
London (mount maker) (place)
England (mount maker) (country)
English (mount maker) (nationality)
Technique Description
dark green blown glass body, mounted in silver with applied and engraved ornament, set with malachite panels, semi-precious stones, cloisonné enamels, coral cameos, Roman and Sassanian intaglios, Greek, Roman and Byzantine coins, and on the cover, a Chinese rock crystal Buddhist lion. The cast silver handle is in the form of a lion with an ivory head, and the spout is cast in the form of an antelope's head with a silver stopper attached by a chain
Dimensions
height: (overall): 10¾
in
height: (overall): 27.3
cm
width: (overall): 7½
in
width: (overall): 19
cm
diameter: (foot): 4¼
in
diameter: (foot): 10.7
cm
Period
third quarter of 19th century
Victorian
Date
1865 to 1866
Provenance
bought: Handley-Read Estate 1972-10-19 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection)
William Burges (1827-1881). Charles Handley-Read (1916-1972)and Lavinia Handley-Read (d. 1972); purchased from Thomas Stainton, Executor of the Handley-Read EstatePurchased with the Perceval Fund and with the Regional Fund administered by the Victoria & Albert Museum
Inscriptions/Marks
-
inscription
Position: on the foot
Method: engraved
Content: I WREN
Description:
Interpretation: Jenny Wren
Language: -
inscription
Position: on neck
Method: engraved
Content: WILLIELMUS BURGES ME FIERI FECIT ANNO DI MDCCLXV EX HONS ECCL[ESI]AE CONSTANTINOPOLITANAE
Description:
Interpretation: indicates that Burges paid for the decanter from the fees which he had received for his prize-winning design of 1856 and later modifications to it for the Crimea Memorail Church in Constantinople, never built
Language: Latin -
maker's mark
Position: on mount on front and on foot
Method: struck
Content: JM
Description:
Interpretation: Josiah Mendelson -
hallmark
Position: on mount on front and on foot
Method: struck
Content:
Description: lion passant
Interpretation: sterling standard silver -
hallmark
Position: on mount
Method: struck
Content:
Description: leopard's head
Interpretation: London -
hallmark
Position: on mount on front and on foot
Method: struck
Content: k
Description:
Interpretation: London date letter for 1865-66 -
hallmark
Position: on mount on front and on foot
Method: struck
Content:
Description: monarch's head
Interpretation: indicates duty paid -
maker's mark
Position: on hoop over finial
Method: struck
Content: GA
Description:
Interpretation: George Angell -
hallmark
Position: on hoop over finial
Method: struck
Description: lion passant
Interpretation: sterling standard silver -
hallmark
Position: on hoop over finial
Method: struck
Description: monarch's head
Interpretation: indicates duty paid
Documentation
- (1972) Victorian and Edwardian Decorative Art , The Handley-Read Collection, London [page: 33]
[comments: Publ. p. 33, no. B88 and illustrated on front cover] - (1973) Fitzwilliam.. The Annual Reports of the Fitzwilliam Museum Syndicate and the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Cambridge for the Year ending 31 December 1972, Cambridge (Cambs.) [page: 10]
[comments: Publ. p. 10, and pl. V] - Johnson, Diana L. (1979) Fantastic Illustration and Design in Britain 1850-1930, New York [page: 52]
[comments: Publ. p. 52, no. 27] - Robinson, Duncan (1980) Morris & Company in Cambridge, Cambridge (Cambs.): Cambridge University Press [page: 13]
[comments: Publ. p. 13, no. 20] - Crook, J. Mordaunt (1981) The Strange Genius of William Burges - 'Art Architect', 1827-1881, London [page: 111]
[comments: Publ. p. 111, no. C.46] - Crook, J. Mordaunt (1981) William Burges and the High Victorian Dream, London
[comments: Published pl. 240. Cf. Designs pls. 238 and 239, and another decanter, pl. 237] - (1989) Treasures from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Cambs.): The Fitzwilliam Museum [page: 132]
[comments: Publ. p. 132, no. 133] - Henig, Martin (1994) Classical Gems, Ancient and Modern Intaglios and Cameos in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Cambridge (Cambs.): Cambridge University Press [page: 485-7]
[comments: Publ, Appendix III, The Burges Ewer, illustrated with catalogue of the gems and cameos, nos. 1072a-f] - Cambridges alla skrytobject,
Source title: Göteborgs Posten (4 January 1995)
[comments: Publ.] - The Lady, 3-9 January 1995, 3-9 January 1995)
[comments: Publ.] - (2005) Treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum, London: Scala [page: 167]
[comments: Publ. p. 167, colour illustration with brief text] - McConnell, Andy (2004) The Decanter, An Illustrated History of Glass from 1650, Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors' Club [page: 333]
[comments: Publ. p. 333, pl. 467] - Culme, John (1987) The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths Jewellers and Allied Traders 1838-1914, from the London Assay Office Registers, Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors' Club
[comments: Ref. for the marks. Vol. I, p. 324 JM; p. 11 GA under John Angell & Son; Vol. II, p. 191, 9534; p. 104, 5452 and 5453.] - (1972) Victorian and Edwardian Decorative Art , The Handley-Read Collection, London [page: p. 54]
[comments: Cf. An example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Circ. 857-1956), p. 54, 6 , illustrated Picture Book, pl. 8] - Wardle, Patricia (1963) Victorian Silver and Silver Plate, London: Herbert Jenkins Ltd [page: 158]
[comments: Cf. The example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Circ 857-1956), p. 158, pl. 49] - (1972) Victorian and Edwardian Decorative Art , The Handley-Read Collection, London [page: 32]
[comments: Cf. An example from the Handley-Read Collection, in the Cecil Higgins Museum, Bedford, p. 32, no. B 87, illustrated on back cover.] - Building News, [page: 418] 1874)
[comments: Ref.] - The Builder, [page: 100] 1887)
[comments: Ref.] - Pullan, R.P. (1883) The Architectural Designs of William Burges, London
[comments: Cf. pl. 17] - Pullan, R.P. (1885) The House of William Burges, London
[comments: Cf. pl.35] - Sotheby's (1998) Applied Arts from 1880, London: Sotheby's [page: 52-3] 20 March 1998)
[comments: Cf. Lot 439, a Chinese vase mounted as a bottle for Burges. Estimate £40-60,000; unsold. See also J. Mordaunt Crook, William Burges and the High Victorian Dream, London, 1981, pl. 233]
Other Notes
Accession Number
M.16-1972 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 99083; Input Date: 2004-06-23 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22)
Related Resources
Related Image/s
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