It was probably Buddhist figures such as these that inspired the earliest European porcelain figures — `magots’ or models of humorous little Chinese Buddhas produced on the Continent — at Meissen, Saint-Cloud, Chantilly and Mennecy — from the 1720s to 40s, and in Britain from about 1780.

The Meissen Contribution

The European porcelain figure as we know it today, however, developed not from burial goods or religious models but as centrepieces for the banqueting tables of the aristocracy. Soon after its founding in 1710, the porcelain factory at Meissen was commissioned to produce both monumental, life-size porcelain sculptures of animals and birds for Augustus the Strong’s Japanese Palace at Dresden (rarities which may fetch £50, 000-£200, 000 today), and small porcelain figures intended as table ornaments. These are generally 5-8 in (12.5-20 cm) high, and were modelled by two supremely skilful sculptors: Johann Joachim Kandler and Johann Gottlob Kirchner.

Early porcelain figures of human subjects were intended to be seen from all sides and were given the illusion of movement through a vertical twist or flourish, a pose known as `contraposta’. Commedia dell’arte characters (such as Harlequin and Columbine), birds and animals, risque groups of pastoral couples, and recognisable court figures were all made, as were humorous studies of monkeys dressed as humans. Among the best known of these is the Affenkapelle.

Meissen figures of 1730-70 usually stand on a s0lid base which, in a few of the surviving pieces, is scratched with a `KHC’ (Koniglich Hofconditorei, or royal pantry) inventory number. These figures and groups can fetch up to £25,000 — far more than the less lively, later 18th-century figures designed to be kept in cabinets and viewed from one side only, which sell for £2000-£10,000.

Meissen figures from the 19th century are generally conservative, and hark back to the previ0us century. Large groups of 18th- century children and allegorical figures relating to industry (Trade’, ‘Exploration’, and so on) stand 12-18 in (30-46 cm) high and can fetch £1500-£4000. A smaller Meissen piece in the 18th-century manner can cost £250-£400, and a pair three times as much. These 19th-century Meissen figures and groups were much imitated, but original pieces are much heavier than copies (being press- moulded rather than slip-cast); the modelling is crisper and more finely detailed; the enamelling is superior and seems to be almost part of the glaze, especially the face painting; the gilding is a deeper tone of gold; and the marks are different, with the underglaze-blue crossed swords painted in a very particular way. Nonetheless, a good imitation can still fetch £300-£r500 at auction, while smaller Meissen-style figures sell for £.30-£ 1 00.

From Other Factories

Franz Anton Bustelli at Nymphenburg and Johann Peter Melchior at the Höchst factory were among the figure sculpt0rs working elsewhere in Germany in the 18th century. Bustelli’s delicately featured figures often have their head and arms at angles, giving a powerful zigzag line, while the rustic, plump-faced children by Melchior have intense, dark br0wn eyes. A porcelain original will fetch £3000-£20, 000, a Hochst-Damm revival figure £400-£1 000.

Soft-paste figures made at the French factories of Vincennes and Sevres include work by the master 18th-century sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falc0ner. His three-dimensional interpretations of groups from paintings by Francois Boucher were often left ‘in the biscuit’ – unglazed – and were produced from the same moulds over a number of years. Prices vary greatly, but groups can fetch £5000-£10,000. Coloured models and groups are more popular today than those in biscuit or ‘in the white’.

In the late 19th century, large coloured biscuit figures and busts were made in Germany and France, again in the 18th-century style. Prices range from El 000 to £3000 for a pair, although mass-produced figures 4-10 in (10-25 cm) high, often made as fairground merchandise, sell for around £20-£80. Most ‘fairings’ proper, depicting couples in ambigu0us situations, fetch £20-£100. Elaborate Art Nouveau pieces made at the B0hemian factory of Royal Dux and standing 20-25 in (50-64 cm) high, are usually matt- finished and muted in colour. They sell for £600-£2000. In the 1930s white porcelain figures and groups with bold Art Deco lines and forms were modelled in southern Germany and Austria. These can be very stylish indeed and can sometimes be bought for as little as £300-£ 1000.

The ubiquitous wall dial of the Victorian and Edwardian periods is familiar from countless schools, kitchens and waiting rooms. In fact, wall clocks come in many forms, the fundamental distinction being between spring-driven clocks (which mostly run for eight days) and weight- driven clocks (mostly running for 3o hours).

Weight Drive Clocks

The earliest form of household, as distinct from public, wall clock was the Gothic chamber clock, made in Germany, Switzerland and in what is now Holland. Despite the name, these timepieces were made from around 1450 to 1650. They are very rare, but because of their bulk fetch only £5000 at auction.

A British development of the Gothic chamber clock was the lantern clock. A large bell on its top gives this timepiece its characteristic domed shape. Most London-made examples date from before 1720, although some were produced in the provinces as late as 1800. The majority run for 3o hours and have only a single, hour hand. Buying a lantern clock needs knowledge and experience, or expert advice, as many were converted to table or mantel clocks in the Victorian era; forged lantern clocks abound also. Prices range from £400 for an example in poor condition to more than £5000 for one in good condition by a reputable maker.

Mid-European clocks from in the 18th and Kith centuries include Black Forest wall clocks, which generally have a 3o-hour movement framed in a wooden case. They are recognisable by an arched wooden dial, usually painted with bunches of flowers or country scenes, and some have a cuckoo mechanism. They were much copied around 1800 in the eastern United States, where they are known as ‘wag-on-thewall’ clocks because of their short pendulum which beats every half-second (and may hang in front of the dial).

Austrian clocks known as Vienna regulators were originally made to a very high standard during the Biedermeier period of the early loth century. They have a high-quality movement, with small driving weights and usually no strike. Most cases are made of boxwood, ebony or birch with glazed panels, and are severe and architectural in style. These clocks are generally expensive, fetching upwards of £ 10,000 at auction. A second type of Vienna regulator was mass-produced in Germany from about 1860 into the 20th century: striking and quarter-striking pieces in walnut cases abound. Many have ebonised mouldings and turned decoration, with some later examples in Art Nouveau style.

Postman alarm clocks were also made in the Black Forest in the mid to late 19th century. They have a white-painted 5 in (12.7 cm) round dial with a turned mahogany or birchwood bezel, or surround. The 3o-hour movement is powered by a cast-iron weight.

Dutch or Friesland stoel clocks date from the 18th century. They have a painted dial, and an arched canopy, decorated with elaborate cast-lead fretwork, protrudes over the clock. Access to the brass, 3o-hour verge movement with a bell at the top is through side doors. Staart clocks, which replaced the stoel type in the 20th century, have a 3o-hour anchor movement. The long pendulum is housed in a boxed ‘tail’ below the wall bracket. The painted tin-plate dial often has a charming country or town scene. Stoel clocks fetch £800-£1200, staart clocks £5oo-£800.

Spring-driven Clocks

The wall dial is the commonest type of British clock after the longcase, and originated in London in the 1760s. It is a spring-driven equivalent of the Act of Parliament clock and owes a debt to the French cartel clock. Early wall dials have an unglazed round painted wooden dial, about 15 in (38 cm) across, fixed to a movement that is housed in a wooden box. They always have a hole in the hack to fit on a wall hook.

Clocks made from the late 18th century onwards have a glazed dial, the face silvered from about 1770 to 182o and made of painted iron thereafter. Most examples dating from around 1775 have a mahogany box instead of the earlier painted pine. Georgian clocks have a wooden bezel, while Victorian and Edwardian wall dials have a turned brass one, and a half-second pendulum.

Victorian drop-dials are recognisable by their long movement box, which can extend some 12 in (3o cm) below the dial. The box has a window through which to view the pendulum. The case may be plain mahogany, or have mother-of-pearl, brass or boxwood inlay, and some are papier-mâché. -

Cartel clocks were a French innovation devised in the Régence period, about 172o. These forerunners of the British wall dial are highly ornamental, many designed by leading cabinet-makers and decorated with boullework, ormolu or painted tin-plate. Louis XVI and Empire examples are almost always Neoclassical in style and made of ormolu, although all styles were reproduced in the Kith century. British cartel clocks made between I76o and 1800 are carved giltwood in the Rococo style. Their silvered dials are 6 in (15.2 cm) across and have a mock pendulum and a prominent script signature.

Sedan clocks, which date from the Regency period, were often made using earlier watch movements and dials. These were rehoused in a 3 in (76 mm) circular or rectangular brass- rimmed mahogany case. The brass loop fitted at the top of the clock was for hanging the clock in a sedan chair.

American banjo clocks from the early 20th century have a glass-fronted banjo-shaped case; many are painted with patriotic subjects. Later copies sell for £3000-£4000.

It was a natural progression from the simple padded chair to one with arms and an upholstered back, and then to the fully upholstered easy armchair: This was first seen towards the end of the 17th century, and has remained popular ever since.

Most 20th-century easy chairs are mass- produced and consequently of little or no interest to collectors. However, there are some exceptions, including chairs by the Modernist architect-designers of the 1920s and 3os, such as Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe, and by the new generation of 1950s and 60s designers such as Ernest Race and Charles Eames, whose tubular steel and leather chairs already fetch £800-£ 1500.

The earliest type of armchair designed with an extra degree of comfort was the wing armchair; the wings sheltered the sitter from draughts, or shielded the face from the fire. Among the earliest types inspired by French designs are the elegant tub-shaped bergeres (deep armchairs) of the Hepplewhite period.

Wing Chairs

The oldest and rarest wing chairs date from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and have exaggerated out-scrolled arms and back. They are usually tall, their turned legs and ball feet joined by flattened stretchers. Examples that still have their original, tasselled velvet cushions can fetch over £5000 today. Queen Anne and early Georgian versions, dating from slightly later, are more decorative and fetch even more. Most are of walnut and have cabriole legs that end in pad feet, some with elegant, shell-carved knees. Those with original tapestry or needlew0rk upholstery are the most valuable, selling for up to £20,000 or more, but many heavily restored examples go for£1 000-£3000.

Copies from the 1920s and 30s, can also make substantial sums. Decoratively upholstered examples regularly reach £ 000, and more if one of an attractive pair, but run-of- the-mill reproductions go for under £1500.

Bergere

The value of a late Georgian bergere largely depends on the style of leg, which may be cabriole (the most desirable), turned, or square and tapering. Individual examples can fetch as much as £3000-£5000, or £1 000- E2000 for more mundane models. Regency bergeres typically have a octangular seat and back, and turned arm terminals. The most desirable Regency examples have reeded or sabre legs; they sell for over £2000 while those with plain turned legs will make under £1500.

Rarer, and sometimes slightly smaller, are the tub-shaped, caned library chairs, sometimes called curricle bergeres. These have a more severely Grecian form than other Regency bergeres, and can realise more than £2000 at auction, especially if they have sabre legs; plainer ones generally fetch £800-£1500. Beware of late 19th-century imitations of Regency bergeres, which can be difficult to distinguish from originals. Most are very plain and fetch less than £500.

The William IV bergere armchair of the 183os is less stiff, and has a top rail that scrolls outwards, foliate scroll arms and reeded baluster legs. It combines comfort with elegance, and can fetch up to £2000.

Bergeres continued to be made into this century, in the form of low-slung caned armchairs with voluminous loose cushions. Most Edwardian examples came as part of a suite consisting of two matching armchairs and a sofa. Double-caned versions (with two layers of cane) with a richly carved frame, and in good order, are the most popular. Bergere suites change hands for £800-£1500.

Victorian Easy Chairs

The second half of the 19th century was a golden age for the easy chair, as a passion for stuffed, upholstered furniture raged in both Britain and France. As a result, well-made, affordable and comfortable furniture became more widely available than ever before.

It was the Victorians who started to deep- button upholstered chairs. Many are thickly padded and they are very expensive to reupholster, which lowers their purchase price. A typical mid-Victorian easy chair with buttoned upholstery is made in walnut, rosewood or mahogany with a distinct waisted (or `spoon’) back above a serpentine seat and cabriole legs. The arms may be padded or open, and they usually have scroll terminals. Most of these chairs originally formed part of a `parlour suite’, but they are usually found on their own today.

The value of a Victorian easy chair depends on the crispness of the carving and to some extent on the quality of the timber. The very best examples sell for over £1500 apiece, while more ordinary examples can be bought for £699-£r000. Lower-slung versions without arms are known as nursing chairs, and these often sell for less than £500 each.

Tub-shaped easy chairs of this date are also low to the ground, and have fully upholstered back and arms. Most have cabriole legs, but examples from the 1870s and 8os are often turned and fluted, and some ebonised and ~parcel gilt. Later examples have square legs. Chairs of this type fetch up to £500, although they can be found for as little as £200-£300. Distinctive chairs by Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts designers range from extravagantly carved examples to chairs of simple lines from firms such as Morris & Co. Many have original upholstery and are relatively affordable- at £3oo-£400 – but rarer pieces made in limited numbers fetch more.

Other variations on the easy chair that ^were popular during the Victorian era range Gum steamer and colonial planter’s chairs – designed for relaxing on board ship or on the verandah – to the rocking chair and recliner. Roth of the most familiar versions of the locking chair – bentwood and spindle-turned can be bought for under £150 at auction. Reclining armchairs, often called invalid or gouty chairs, usually have a complicated ratchet mechanism to allow the back to recline as a sliding footrest appears. Many are stamped with a maker’s mark or have a plate at label, and the majority change hands for between £800 and £r000, with the exception of pieces of high quality or rarity.

Designers had seen the folly of ignoring modern Art Deco materials and machinery, for these offered the chance to express the carefree and racy Art Deco fashionable mood. Society people were blotting out horrid memories of the war with a giddy round of parties, dances and cocktails, with the syncopated rhythms of jazz and of frantic new dances such as the Charleston. Art Deco — modern, glamorous and fun — provided a suitable backdrop for this life.

Art Deco, like Art Nouveau, centred on a bold, progressive style and aimed to give a visual surprise. But instead of the sinuous lines of Art Nouveau, Art Deco favoured flat surfaces and angular, geometric shapes. It was closely related to the fragmented, multifaceted view of Cubism and Futurism Art Deco then dominating art. There is also an echo of Aztec style in Art Deco’s stepped and sunray motifs — as seen in jewellery, clocks and door frames.

A fascination with speed, movement and mechanics shows in Art Deco’s treatment of the human form, for example in the angular profile of a face with streaming hair raked back with machine-like precision. The wild splashes of colour in Art Deco — vermilion, emerald-green, cornflower-blue and a vivid orange called tango — can be traced to the exotic costumes designed by Leon Bakst for Diaghilev’s ballets staged in prewar Paris.

The style was essentially nostalgic, much of its detail and ornament inspired by the Medieval -for example, the large metal hinges fitted on the outside of cabinet doors. The products looked handmade: wood was often left unpolished; beaten metal showed hammer marks; dowels were often left conspicuously visible. Glass was simply blown – cutting was disparaged as an industrial technique – so that the natural beauty of the material itself could be seen, unobscured by ornament.

Ceramics went through a particularly fruitful period as craftsman-based production allowed labour-intensive techniques such as applied relief decoration and experiments with glazes. Distinctive lustre-glazed earthenware, decorated with Renaissance or Persian motifs such as putti, scrolling foliage and ships, or with raised and intertwining floral patterns, was made by craftsmen such as William de Morgan in London and the Della Robbia Pottery in Birkenhead (founded 1894). Complex and colourful glazes were exploited in the mottled, spattered flambe wares for which the Ruskin Pottery in Birmingham (founded 1898) is noted. William

Moorcroft added his own particular style, decorating generously shaped vases with bold, loose designs based on mushrooms, poppies and trees set in landscapes. Some of these patterns remained popular into the 1930s.

The most distinctive metalwork of the period is decorated with repoussé work. Typical pieces bear stylised, spade-like flowers on long stalks. Silverwork came to life with novel designs, for example by Christopher Dresser. His books on the principles of design and his own designs for carpets, furniture, glass, ceramics and metalware showed that he understood that industrial methods could work with, not against, good design. He was particularly attracted by the economy of line of Japanese design. In his own work, his silver (and electroplate) jugs and teapots, for example, were strikingly geometric and angular, anticipating Modernist work by 4o years.

From the various fresh approaches to design, two distinct tendencies emerged. The potential of free, swirling lines was exploited by the architect and designer Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo. Undulating, seaweed-like tendrils appear in the pierced chair splats and panels of his furniture. It was a development that would soon evolve into Art Nouveau. By contrast, the Glaswegian architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh used angular, geometric forms in which function dominated. His furniture, with a strong vertical quality, was startlingly original. Mackintosh was also one of the first designers of stained glass to break free of ecclesiastical models.

Mackintosh’s vision was admired in Europe more than in Britain, where more backward- looking Victorian tastes continued as the mainstream of the Edwardian age. And yet while people liked the nostalgic `olde worlde’ charm of their new Queen Anne style houses, they also wanted modern technology. Houses could have electric lighting from the 1890s, although usually they had gas lighting as well. When a piped pressurised water supply reached houses in towns during the 1870s, bathrooms became a must. Initially dressing rooms and minor bedrooms were sacrificed to take the bath, but new houses had purpose- built bathrooms. A washbasin was plumbed in and the great enamelled cast-iron bath with roll top and ball-and-claw feet was installed. Bath water was heated nearby in a gas geyser.

Piped water also put paid to the system of levers and valves by which the old water closets operated. While many poorer homes and rural houses still had an outside earth closet, the well-to-do in towns from about 1875 could have an efficient flush lavatory with an overhead cistern. Manufacturers developed elegant vitreous china lavatory pans, often patterned with blue-and-white transfers or with raised scrollwork.

Accepting the needs of Twentieth Century

Ironically, the progressive styles of the late Victorian and Edwardian period were inspired by reaction against the progressive methods of industry. But industry’s contributions were essential to the modern world. Before the end of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1901 it was possible to telephone from London to Paris, to ride in an electric underground railway, to produce a letter on a typewriter and to take photographs with a Kodak camera. During Edward VIPs reign (1910- 10) Blériot crossed the channel in an aeroplane, and Ford produced the first popular motor car.

The Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic movements saw the drawbacks of industrialisation but failed to take account of its benefits. By the end of the century, however, it was clear even to craft-centred designers that the machine was here to stay, and that it was futile to ignore it. Whatever a craftsman came up with, manufacturers could copy for the mass market at a fraction of the price.

In the reconciliation between designers and the mass market a crucial role was played by high-street shops — above all Liberty’s of London. As manager of the Oriental department of the London store Farmer & Rogers, Arthur Lasenby Liberty encouraged the firm to buy all the stock left from the Japanese exhibit at the 1862 International Exhibition. When Farmer & Rogers ceased trading in 1874, Liberty bought their Oriental stock and set up on his own in Regent Street. The shop succeeded with fashionable modern furniture and a range of popular textile prints.

Much of Liberty’s stock was produced on a factory basis — for example the silver Cymric ware and the pewter Tudric ware, both decorated with Arts and Crafts motifs and with traditional Celtic patterns adapted to Art Nouveau style by Archibald Knox. But Liberty also used factory methods to make furniture in cruder versions of Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles.

Such work intensified the heated debate about appropriate ways of making designer objects. Designers would soon have to face up to worldwide industrial production and develop styles to work within it. But before it could address the issues, Europe had to endure a war that ended for ever the assumptions in which the Edwardian style of life was rooted.

The designs which Christopher Dresser produced for electro-plated wares were in direct contrast to contemporary ideas on style. Reactionary in their simplicity and functionalism, their clear, uncluttered outlines stand out from the styles. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has an electro-plated Dresser tea set which he designed for James Dixon and Sons. Today there is nothing extraordinary about it but how it must have amazed people then. It is based on a spherical shape devoid of decoration. The sugar bowl, milk jug and teapot all stand upon three simple feet, the latter two having neat functional handles which break away completely from the scroll form or anything derived from this outline, emphasising instead a vertical grip which follows the spherical shapes of the vessels. The set is beautifully designed even by modern standards and could quite easily have been produced within recent years. In fact it bears the Registry mark for 1880, when our forefathers were enamoured with everything opposed to it in design and ornament.

It also says much for James Dixon and Sons that they were prepared to sponsor such progressive ideas, as were Hukin and Heath who produced a wide miscellany of domestic electro-plated articles and secured the services of Christopher Dresser to advise them on design. Under his guidance they produced some beautifully simple and well-proportioned objects for everyday use in the home. The interesting point about Christopher Dresser was that, while he had very definite and original ideas on design, he never veered from his intention of being a commercial designer. He produced designs for Elkingtons, too. He once wrote that ‘if the designer forms works which are expensive, he places them beyond the reach of those who might otherwise enjoy them’. His designs for electro-plated wares certainly did not fall into such a category.

While items by eminent designers may be out of the price range of many collectors, it is possible to hunt around and discover examples which show their influence, or to specialise in collecting pieces after a certain style. Such styles might include Japanese-inspired pieces, the vogue for which was intense throughout the domestic scene and elsewhere and for which, among others, Christopher Dresser in the late 1870s opened an Oriental warehouse in Farringdon Road ‘for the exhibition and sale of decorative objects of all kinds imported from

Japan, China and India‘; Adam or Louis Seize wares, very popular during the 1880s and echoing in some ways the neo-classical period of the late eighteenth century, incorporating acanthus leaves, swags and bows with much engraving and centre shields, particularly on teapots and larger pieces of domestic wares; a revived rococo, very much apparent during

The last two decades; and pieces showing certain Huguenot-style forms of decoration of the early eighteenth century, emulated with much enthusiasm.

The most important influence at this time was, of course, that of Art Nouveau, with its easy flowing lines of grace and elegance which found favour with, among others, the comparatively new firm of Liberty and Company. Art Nouveau, with its sinuous lines emulating the lotus or the lily, is hard to define since its inspiration in general was derived from an unlikely combination of Japanese and mediaeval ideas. It proved eminently adaptable to practically all vessel shapes and numerous other types of domestic objects. In a more modified form it influenced electro-plate nearly as much as sterling silver and can still sometimes be seen in the lines of pieces produced as late as the early 1920s. I noted just such a piece prior to the time of writing in the form of an Art Nouveau electro-plated cigarette box in a shop some 30 miles from London. It was an excellent buy at under £10. A set of electro-plated fish knives and forks was also seen at the same time bearing a series of impressive marks which a cursory glance might take to be sterling silver hallmarks, which might have fooled the unwary.

But what of a silver pot in which to place it? These came into being following her discovery and had become established by the middle of the century. Early examples were drum-shaped or cylindrical, and sometimes oval or octagonal with flat, hinged lids in which a groove was left at the side for the insertion of a ladle-shaped spoon. From the early 1760s silversmiths listed tankards with hinged lids as mustard tankards, although they had been in use earlier. They were made from a sheet of silver, joined by a soldered seam beneath the handle. Lids were raised by a thumbpiece which was decoratively cast and chased. Handles were scroll or S-shaped. Moulding would usually strengthen the rim and base of the pot. Pierced examples with blue-glass liners were fashionable, being hand-pierced originally and pierced by the fly-press at a later date. The vase-shaped pot was in vogue during the last 30 years or so of the eighteenth century, as was the elliptical shape. At the end of the century, straight-sided oval pots appeared, decorated as the other forms, with beading, engraving and bright-cutting. Also making their appearance at this time were rectangular and barrel-shaped pots.

The Regency era saw the emergence of matching sets of domestic silver, and an assortment of matching salt and mustard pots now began to pour forth from manufacturing silversmiths. It was natural, then, that the cruet, with its silver or silver-mounted containers grouped together, grew in popularity. By the second and third decades of the nineteenth century, the cylindrical mustard pot was altogether heavier with thicker cast S-shaped handles, incorporating more elaborate mouldings around the rim and base. Various new shapes appeared including a compressed circular form chased with naturalistic patterns and pear-shaped pots. Hexagonal or octagonal pots were pierced or engraved.

In the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign designs became most fanciful and included the bizarre, like the pot with the handle incorporating a monkey with a look of horror on its face and its tongue lolling out. Was this a device to let us know that the stuff was hot? Animal shapes and novelties abounded, from plump porkers to kittens; sometimes demure, sometimes grotesque. Among the novelties was a busby, made in 1908, crested and engraved with the motto ‘I am ready’, its accompanying mustard spoon having a cockade handle. Another was a riding boot with a whip-handle spoon. Among Art Nouveau pieces was one designed by C. R. Ashbee and made by the Guild of Handicraft at the turn of the century. This elegant little piece with its simple, flowing lines, tapering in towards the top, and pierced above the waist, has a slightly-domed overlapping cover, its finial set with a semi-precious stone.

established forms, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has a superb Art Nouveau specimen in parcel-gilt by C. R. Ashbee which incorporates amber and a small figure, the latter being characteristic of Ashbee’s work, but this ‘salt‘ would be considered too ornate for general use. An interesting example of 1866 by Stephen Smith was of frosted silver with figures of sowers and men carrying baskets of seeds upon their backs.

Elegant, antique salt cellars are in demand, although great care should be taken to ensure that they are cleaned properly. Probably most popular of all are the neo-classical pierced versions with Bristol blue-glass liners, which show the intricate piercing in sharp relief. These have been produced since the 1760s, worked at first by hand with the fret-saw and later stamped by the fly-press, the latter method piercing considerable numbers. Always much in demand has been an oval form, standing on four decorative feet, made in either sterling silver or Sheffield plate, and of a rounded or polygonal shape. The boat-shaped cellar, with a short stem balanced by an oval spreading foot, was typical of the neo-classical period from about 1770, and retained its popularity until around 1825. It is among the most elegant of designs and has been understandably copied ever since.

In common with the shapes of domestic vessels, a rounded oblong salt cellar on four ball feet was another prominent design from approximately 1805 until about 1820, while the variously-pierced circular, straight-sided shape with three or four feet remained in vogue until the middle of the nineteenth century and later. Victorian salt cellars, in common with other domestic items of the time, were subject to a revival of most previous styles and ornament, including rococo, Greek and Roman classicism, ancient Egyptian motifs and naturalism. The pleasing bowl or cauldron shape, which had appeared originally in about 1730, was included among such revivals. These stood upon three or four feet, including hoof and scallop shapes, and the short legs curved attractively into the bowl. The joints thus formed were decorated with lions’ heads, rams’ heads, cherubs and other contemporary ornament, and these were linked around the bowl by embossed swags and festoons. Victorian and Edwardian revivals range from the over-decorated to the fair copy. The ordinary, basic trencher salt was made in circular, square, triangular and octagonal shapes and was the first type of ‘cellar‘ to emerge after the great salt fell into disuse during the seventeenth century. Such salts are among the few designs which have not been copied extensively, due no doubt to their solid appearance, although a spool shape which appeared during the reign of George I is still emulated.

Epergnes

These ornamental table pieces have undergone a revival of interest in recent years with the increased knowledge of antiques generally. Epergnes, or centrepieces as they are sometimes known, were produced in many forms, both elaborate and simple, but certainly always provided glamour at the table. They appeared during the 1720s, and one is recorded in a contemporary royal inventory as having ‘one table basket and cover, one foote, four salt boxes, four small salts, four branches, six casters and four sauceboats’. This gives a rough idea how these hanging devices with a central stem and branches saved space on the table, which was their original purpose, quite apart from their ornamental value. It was probably this latter quality, however, which was responsible for their rapid growth in fashion. They became exquisitely decorated with rococo ornament and were later bedecked with all manner of classical motifs. Others were in the Chinese style with elaborate pillars and delicately-pierced pagoda roofs and baskets, with their branches in the form of recurving scrolls.

Regency epergnes might be mounted on a platform with a central pillar upon which would be set a large cut-glass dish. Four branches would support small, matching dishes, and the entire piece would be heavily decorated. Victorian examples included both magnificent and quite simple, smaller versions. The former often incorporated an amazing mixture of figures with a general theme, which might be exotically naturalistic, Gothic or classical. Sheffield plate epergnes were probably produced in more diverse patterns than any other piece of comparable domestic plated silver, manufacturers devising a stream of ideas including perhaps as many as 250 patterns with which to tempt customers during the last decade of the eighteenth century and first 15 years or so of the nineteenth. These, too, took all kinds of forms and had grown excessively ornate by Victorian days, at which time they sometimes included coloured-glass liners or bowls.

Vesta boxes

Vesta boxes are still among the lower-priced nineteenth century collectable objects, despite the fact that the more ornate varieties rise correspondingly in price. These utilitarian little boxes were originally designed to carry vesta matches safely, since when these first appeared they were extremely combustible. Incorporated in the case was a rasp upon which the match was struck. Vesta boxes were made in large quantities from around the middle of the century, and came mostly from Birmingham. Their hallmarks, like those on card cases, should be found on the outside rim of the main case which is concealed by the hinged cover when closed. Sometimes the case incorporated a small ring so that it could be suspended from a watch chain. Although many are quite plain, others may be decorated in elaborate patterns including engine-turned ornament, flat chasing, repoussé work and engraving. Various fanciful shapes were also produced.

Stamp boxes

Also still comparatively inexpensive, stamp boxes have a certain charm because of their Lilliputian size. They are among the numerous nineteenth century objects which at one time were of no importance at all to collectors, but which, with the growing interest in less expensiveitems, have gradually been included in the list of collectables. Look carefully for these tiny ‘envelope’ boxes on trays of small items displaying Victorian or early twentieth century jewellery, pieces of silver and so on. They are not easy to spot at a cursory glance because of their postage-stamp size, but are worth considering. They may have a ring fixed to them because they sometimes hung from a chatelaine.

The decorative silver frame, used mostly nowadays for photographs, appeared for mirrors after the Restoration, late seventeenth century oblong examples being heavily ornamented with naturalistic decoration between gadrooning or complex beading, and surmounted by a coat-of-arms in a complex setting. Such fine examples might be among gifts to the royal family or court. Other types of decorative frames were also popular in the eighteenth century, perhaps being made of wood or gesso which was gilded and carved. Nineteenth century silver examples became more numerous not only for mirrors but, in later years and into the Edwardian era, for photographs. Others were extremely rich and ornate, decorated according to the style of the day. A splendid example of this lavish decoration can be seen in the boudoir mirror made in 1862 by L. Morel Ladeuil, who, although trained on the Continent, worked for Elkingtons for many years. Ornament on this gilt mirror includes cherubs holding drapery, and branches entwined with butterflies and flowers. A flamboyant peacock surmounts the top. Although the framework was of gilt decorated with jewels, this elaborate attitude tended to influence silver decoration of the period as well.

In the 1870s a mirror by Wilms, who also worked for Elkingtons, maintained this taste for opulence. One of his oval mirror frames at this time consisted of silver inlaid with gold, the outer frame being of silver decorated with repoussé arabesque and the inner one of steel, bronzed to a deep shade and damascened in silver and gold. Running concurrently with such embellishment were those frames influenced by, among other styles, the classical revival and naturalistic forms, still a favourite for certain types of objects. Late Victorian and Edwardian silver frames varied in size considerably. Watch out for the general condition of these because some have become badly dented over the years, and this does not always reveal itself at a quick glance in examples which are covered with over-all embossing and chasing. Attractive are the frames which were decoratively-shaped or showing the influence of the Art Nouveau movement.

Scent flasks and bottles

Containers for scent would also be incorporated in toilet sets for the fairer sex, and such separated examples exist. Most of those seen today, however, would be nineteenth century, or perhaps late eighteenth century. Nineteenth century silver flasks for perfume can be most decorative but also most expensive. Many of these are very ornate, perhaps with surface engraving in scroll and foliate or floral patterns, heart-shaped or in other decorative forms. They might have a small silver chain fitted to them so that they could be hung by this to a chatelaine. Delightful bottles in plain or coloured glass with plain or decorated silver mounts were made in vast quantities during the nineteenth century and were very attractive, their diversity of shape adding to their interest. Small examples were made for the handbag, and larger ones for the dressing-table. Certain specimens, which look like perfume bottles, incorporate a pierced grille in the lid and may be described as a vinaigrette, scent bottle or smelling bottle. Some silver flasks have a small section at the side which opens for the containment of pills or anything similar.

Shaving basins and accessories

The shaving dish in sterling silver was shaped like its ceramic counterpart, ie it was circular with a large ‘bite’ out of it to fit around the neck. These were generally undecorated and even those intended for royal stubble usually had only the royal arms and cipher. Silver shaving brushes were also used, and the shaving equipment would be completed by a spherical silver box with hinged lid for the soap. Spherical soap boxes were also made in Sheffield plate from approximately 1770. In either metal they stood upon a circular foot with a stem, the cover of the box — hinged across the centre — either plain or perforated so that the perfume from the soap might pervade the room. Soap boxes intended primarily for shaving kits were generally left unperforated. Measurements were approximately five inches high by about three-and-a-half inches in diameter. Both silver and Sheffield plate examples were similarly decorated, the deep lid being attractively pierced and the mounts of the rim and foot chased with naturalistic motifs including roses, acorns, thistles and so on. The spherical soap box gradually became unfashionable and there was little demand for it after about the 1820s.