Design for a silver ink stand with glass containers by Edward Hodges Baily (1788- 1867) c. 1820

A drawing of a silver ink stand with glass containers by Edward Hodges Baily, circa 1820. Plain tray holding two glass pots and two covered containers with acanthus scrolling on the pots. In the centre a helmeted female figure (probably Britannia) placing a cap of Liberty on the head of a kneeling slave.
Profile, Full size, 137 x 385 mm.

The kneeling figure is derived from the famous anti slavery image "Am I not a man and a brother?" designed by Flaxman and made by Josiah Wedgwood, in which the figure is however shown chained.
The whole composition is closely similar to an unexecuted design by Flaxman for the pediment of the Temple of Liberty at Woburn Abbey, designed about 1801-03 (British Museum, 1888,0503.53). The executed pediment, carved by Sir Richard Westmacott in 1818 after a plaster by Flaxman, shows figures of Liberty, Peace, Agriculture and Commerce, omitting the reference to slavery. The similarity between this ink stand and E.83-1964 suggest that the original drawing dates from about 1820.
This drawing is most probably directly copied from a drawing by Flaxman. A tracing of the figure group from a Flaxman drawing which is identical in appearance is the John Gawler Bridge sketch book in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 23.68.1 (leaf 26).

This design is on folio 7 verso 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.84-1964