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When is a silver cup most likely to run?
On March 18th, 2010 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
‘When is A Silver Cup most likely to run?’
a cigarette card from a series published by Lambert & Butler Ltd of London, early 20th Century
The answer to Lambert & Butler’s old chestnut of a riddle is, ‘When it’s chased.’ A slender twig upon which to hang this latest glance at old silver, perhaps, but consider the importance which the chaser’s art has always played in the decoration and finishing of plate. Even today, artist craftsmen like Rod Kelly exploit the technique to brilliant effect.
It may seem odd but in 18th Century London a display of silver was used to help young chimney sweeps and milkmaids beg for alms on May Day as they danced ‘in fine and fantastic attire’ through the streets. In 1776 Judge Samuel Curwen saw them in Ave Maria Lane carrying a pyramid-shaped ‘garland’ decked with a silver tankard and other plate, topped by a chased silver tea kettle.
In literature as in real life, ‘chased’ as applied to silver means highly wrought, noteworthy, often expensive, as when Oscar Wilde‘s evil hero Dorian Gray hesitated to inform his guardians of the purchase of a chased silver Louis-Quinze toilet set, because they could not understand ‘that we live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.’ How true; most of us are in thrall to the unnecessary. Who, for instance, really requires ‘A SUMPTUOUS TEA POT, with massive chasings’ representing a banquet and a combat of cavalry? But this arresting example from Edward Farrell’s factory (ex Duke of York’s collection, Christie’s, 1827) is typical of work that inspires admiration as much for its appearance as for its craftsmanship.
A George III chased silver tea kettle, Benjamin Brewood, London, 1761. For their May Day parade the milkmaids are supposed to have borrowed silver from pawnbrokers but it is worth remembering that many working silversmiths were in and around the City of London. Brewood, for instance, had premises near Fleet Street and towards the end of the 18th Century there were several well-established silver factories in Ave Maria Lane and nearby Paternoster Row.
(photo courtesy of Sotheby’s, London, 2002)
Snuff boxes galore!
On November 5th, 2009 John Culme wrote on the subject of Uncategorized.
an English hardstone snuff box with chased gold cagework mounts, circa 1765
(photo: courtesy of Sotheby’s)
One of my favourite pastimes is to read 18th Century newspapers. Until recently, before the Internet, copies were hard to find; now I am just one among a band of enthusiasts. Search ‘gold snuff box‘ and lost worlds of luxury wares, courtly manners and skulduggery emerge. What is one to make of the ‘lady of considerable birth and fortune’ who in 1765 was ejected from a London gathering ‘for making too free with a gold snuff box belonging to another lady with whom she was engaged at a party of cards’?
Many types and designs of snuff boxes are recorded in these reports. In 1734, the Fleet Street shop of ‘toyman‘ Ann Markham was robbed of goods, including ‘a large square Gold Snuff box with an enamel’d Picture on the Top’ as well as ‘a Man’s Size studded Tortoiseshell Snuff-box with Gold Rims [and] 30 or more fine Snuff-boxes, consisting of Silver and Metal gilt, set with Stones, all Silver, Tortoiseshell, and Metal gilt, Amber, Ivory, and various other Sorts, but particularly an oval silver Box with Major Barnwell’s Picture in it.’
Major Barnwell, a local celebrity, born in 1640, was not alone in having had his likeness on a snuff box. From another newspaper of 1765 we hear of the loss from a coach at Vauxhall of ‘a Gold chased Snuff Box of a Semi-circular Form . . . with an enamelled Picture of a Gentleman screwed into the Lid . . . supposed to be painted in Charles the Second‘s Time.’
pen and watercolour design for a snuff box lid, French, mid 18th Century, from the collection of David David-Weill (1871-1952), sometime Chairman of Lazard Frères.
- Various items of interest are currently listed on myfamilysilver.com, including a number of snuff boxes.
John Culme, who for many years has been connected with Sotheby's Silver Department, is author of several books and articles, including The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, 1838-1914, published in 1987, and co-author with Nicholas Rayner of The Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor. He is also a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths' Company, London.
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