Casket
1871 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This casket was made in 1871 to contain Prince Albert’s season ticket for the Great Exhibition of 1851. (Albert, the Prince Consort, was the husband of Queen Victoria.) It was also meant to hold two volumes concerning his life and public addresses. The casket was made to commemorate the important role that Albert had played in setting up the project for the exhibition. Appropriately, the figures represent Learning, Science and Philosophy.
F. W. Moody (1824–86) designed the casket, O. Gibbons modelled it, and G. Franchi cast and chased it in a 16th-century style.
F. W. Moody (1824–86) designed the casket, O. Gibbons modelled it, and G. Franchi cast and chased it in a 16th-century style.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Parts | This object consists of 7 parts.
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Materials and techniques | Ebony, glass and silver-gilt |
Brief description | Casket in ebony, glass and silver-gilt, designed by F.W. Moody, figures modelled by Owen Gibbons, cast and chased by G.Franchi, and made for the Prince Consort's ticket to the 1851 Exhibition and two volumes on his life and work. English, 1871. |
Physical description | Casket of ebony with silver-gilt mounts, the main body raised on silver-gilt and chased feet, the front, back and top of glass and framed on the sides and ends by panels of ebony decorated with 16th-century-style silver-gilt motifs.At the ends of the casket are the arms of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, crowned and flanked by crouching angels and on the corners of the casket terminal figures while around the lower cornice are running festoons of flowers, with ribbon ties and masks. The top is domed and surmounted with an ornate ebony and silver-gilt cresting rail, with a standing male figure of Learning, between two reclining male figures holding a garland. On either end of the cresting rail are seated male figures representing Science and Philosophy. The inside is covered in red silk. |
Dimensions |
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Object history | This casket, presumably commissioned by Henry Cole, was designed to hold the Prince Consort's Season ticket for the 1851 Exhibition and two volumes, The Early Years of Prince Albert, and The Principal Speeches and Addresses of the Prince Consort, all three presented to the South Kensington Museum by Queen Victoria. The casket was exhibited in the London International Exhibition of 1872, organised by Cole with the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition, the Royal Albert Hall provisional committee, and the Royal Horticultural Society. The Albert Hall, opened on 29th March 1871, was used as a display space and galleries were also built in the gardens of the Society, south of the Hall, at South Kensington. In the Official Catalogue of this Exhibition the casket was listed in the Fine Arts Department, Metalwork, Rooms VII and IX First Floor, p.94: '2744 Moody, F.W. Casket in Ebony, with gilt figures and ornaments designed, modelled, and executed for the South Kensington Museum, to hold the Prince Consort’s Season Ticket of 1851. Metal work cast and chased by Messrs. G. Franchi.’ |
Association | |
Summary | This casket was made in 1871 to contain Prince Albert’s season ticket for the Great Exhibition of 1851. (Albert, the Prince Consort, was the husband of Queen Victoria.) It was also meant to hold two volumes concerning his life and public addresses. The casket was made to commemorate the important role that Albert had played in setting up the project for the exhibition. Appropriately, the figures represent Learning, Science and Philosophy. F. W. Moody (1824–86) designed the casket, O. Gibbons modelled it, and G. Franchi cast and chased it in a 16th-century style. |
Collection | |
Accession number | 319:1 to 7-1872 |
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Record created | December 15, 1999 |
Record URL |
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