£700 - £1,000
AN IMPRESSIVE RENAISSANCE-STYLE VICTORIAN SILVER EWER
by Frederick Elkington, Birmingham 1871, designed by Benjamin Schlick and adapted from designs by Francois Briot and Caspar Enderlein, the tapered ovoid body with a central band depicting three continents, Europe, Africa & America, the above band decorated with the seasons Autumn, Winter and Spring, further decorated with masks, the handled formed as a caryatid terminating in a grotesque mask, with a knopped stem supported on a stepped circular base, stamped 978, 30cm high 1,080gms / 34.72oz
This ewer's extravagant design belongs to one of Elkington's most interesting periods of production which saw the company employ foreign designers to create decorative silver in various styles. This early period also heralded Elkington’s foray into the Electroplating process.
Benajmin Schlick was a Danish-born designer and architect who, in the early years of his life, had spent time in Italy and France and was directly exposed to Classical visual and material culture. In 1839 he become one of the leading figures in the restoration and preservation of the ancient remains at Pompeii, making observations and sketches which would influence his designs made for Elkington.
Shlick’s ewer makes direct reference to two makers, Francois Briot (1550-1616), the Huguenot die-cutter and medallist, as well as Casper Enderlein (1560-1633), a Master pewterer who was active in Nuremberg.
Francois Briot’s most famous design is undoubtedly the ‘Temperantia’ basin, his only known signed work and a prime example of ‘Edelzinn’ (precious pewter) that was produced in France and Germany during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The basin featured a figure of Temperance in the centre, surrounded by four plaques depicting the four elements. The patron was most likely Friedrich I, Duke of Württemberg and Count of Montbéliard. Briot moved to Montbeliard in 1579 and a few years later he was appointed seal-engraver to the count and is known to have made medals for Friedrich.
The ’Mars’ basin is another masterwork of Briot’s that follows a similar allegorical composition to the ‘Temperantia’ basin. The God Mars replaces the figure of Temperance, while the elements are now depictions of Pax, Invidia, Abundantia and Bellum. The outer border features depictions of famous commanders (Caeser, Cyrus, Julius, Alexander) and the four continents, of which the latter group draws on a series of prints by Jan Sadeler the Elder (1550-1600) after Dirk Barendsz (1534-1592).
Basins such as the Temperantia and Mars basin nearly always accompanied ewers with complimentary decoration. Briot seems to have designed ewers at around the same time as the basins, circa 1585. See Hanns-Ulrich Haedeke 'Zinn' 1973. Abb. 129-130 & 134 in the Germanischs Nationalmuseum Nurnberg. Briot’s moulds were made to be copied. His basins and ewers were disseminated widely and in different materials such as Palissyware.
Caspar Enderlein’s reproduction of Briot’s Temperance basin brought him great fame. Like many artists who take inspiration from others, Enderlein embellished Briot’s moulds and forms. An ewer made by Enderlein was sold at Sotheby’s (L12230, lot 47) which lifts from an example by Briot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession number :1975.1.1473, Robert Lehman collection).
The three continents (minus Asia) represented in Shlick’s design feature an inscribed cartouche below, an addition Enderlein made to Briot’s work.
Shlick’s design further incorporates designs from another dish made by Enderlein from a later date. The dish, made around 1628 (an example is found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number 1203-1903) depicts the creation of Eve in the centre surrounded by four allegorical figures of the four seasons. Shlick’s ewer design takes three seasons (excluding Summer) to be used as the top band of decoration. The form also differs – Shlick’s handle is longer and straighter, while the foot differs in decoration and is slightly taller.
Most works by Briot and Enderlein that Shlick used as reference material are held in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum also holds an identical example of the ewer, though theirs is electroplated parcel-gilt rather than silver.
Henry Cole, the first director of the Victoria & Albert Museum (then known as The South Kensington Museum) quickly grasped the potential of Elkington’s newly-bought patent for the process of Electroplating, as they shared a belief that classical source material should be disseminated to aid in the development of good taste. Cole agreed with Elkington to take moulds of ancient objects in the museum and others around the world and reproduce electrotypes of them. These were a huge success and by 1920, the museum held over 1000 electrotypes.
Schlick also shared this belief and was instrumental in procuring source material for Elkington. As one of the company’s earliest commissioned designers, Schlick provided direct source material, with his designs being patented by the firm and reproduced as early as 1845. During excavations at Pompeii, he had patented a form of pantograph to make reproductions of works discovered in the ruins. One such example is the famed inkwell / taperstick in the form of a roman lamp, based on Shlick’s sketches from Pompeii and given by Queen Victoria to Prince Albert on their wedding anniversary in 1850.
Schlick’s relationship with Elkington’s was not without its problems and their relationship ended in 1851, possibly due to the fact that Elkington was mainly a commercial enterprise. The company continued to produce and sell Shlick’s designs, namely international events such as the Great Exhibition and the 1867 Paris Exposition. To buy an electroplate example of the ewer being sold would cost £9, 9s in 1854. An example in silver would have been much more expensive and of which there are scarcer examples. The lot above provides a detailed and varied insight not only into the commercial activities of the silver and plate industry at a key time in its history and how these objects were used as educational tools for the improvement of general public taste, but also the constant adaption of artists’ works across myriad mediums which produced a wholly different piece that simultaneously looks towards the past and future.
There is a dent to the left of Winter (Hyems). The top band is slightly uneven below autumn probably caused by a fall. Some unevenness to the bottom band also.
The foot appears to have solder repairs below the knop, the decoration is disrupted - the underside base may have been a later addition
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