Design for a silver cup and cover by Edward Hodges Baily (1788- 1867) c. xxx

A drawing of a silver cup and cover by Edward Hodges Baily, circa
Of ovoid form with a decoration of putti and vine stems. The handles formed as acanthus stems.
Profile, Full size, 360 x 274 mm.

This design is, except for the lid and handles, is derived from a print from Piranesi (Giovan Battista Piranesi, Vasi, Candelbari e Cippi, Focillon 614) of a stone vase that was eventually acquired by the Duke of Buckingham.
A direct copy of the PIranesi vase was marked by Paul Storr and hallmarked 1811-12 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art M.2015.13).
Another direct copy was made by Rebecca Emes and Edward Barnard for the Doncaster Race Cup of 1829 (Leeds City Council).
Emes and Barnard also made version of the vase with vine stem handles very similar to the ones on this design in 1828-29 (Minneapolis Institute of Art G350).

This design is on folio 16 recto included in an album containing 55 designs drawn directly on 27 sheets (sometimes several to a page), for gold and silver plate, including wine-coolers, tureens, inkstands, a teapot, a kettle, candelabra etc., related to the production of the Royal goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge and Rundell between c.1809 and c.1820. (E.70- 124-1964) The album pages are of white wove paper watermarked 1806, full-bound in blue leather, gold tooled, lettered on the spine ‘Designs for Plate etc. by John Flaxman’. With the bookplate of John Roland Abbey (1894 –1969). Bound by William Wood. The back fly- leaf is inscribed “JA, 1070/ 13:9:1935”. All the drawings are by one hand, most probably that of the sculptor Edward Hodges Baily. He became a pupil of John Flaxman in 1807, at a time when Flaxman was designing silver for Rundell, Bridge and Rundell. He joined Rundell Bridge and Rundell in 1815 as “a modeller and designer” and in 1826 became its chief modeller and designer. In 1833 he began working for the firm of Storr and Mortimer. Some of the drawings are most probably copies by Baily of his own designs, while others are copied or adapted from designs by John Flaxman and Thomas Stothard, as well as other, anonymous, designers. The clean condition of the album, and the range of dates of the pieces shown, in addition to their unchronological arrangement, suggest that the album was made as a fair-copy record of pre-existing design drawings, all made about 1820, although some of the drawings seem also have been used as part of a design process. The drawings copied from John Flaxman and Thomas Stothard imitate the graphic styles of the originals. The album was bought from Marlborough Rare Books on 24th March 1964 for 550 pounds.

E.102-1964