Object Type
This print was made by means of a technique known as etching, which uses the action of acid to create lines on a metal printing plate. This design is from an album made up from sheets cut from two pattern books published by Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) in the 1770s and in the 1780s. It consists of 25 whole-page plates and 121 plates pasted in onto 18 leaves. The designs are for domestic silver and include candlesticks, candelabra, cruet-stands, inkstands, bottle tickets, waiters, tea-urns, vases, wine coolers, mugs, cups, entrée dishes, a dish cross, a fish-slice, sugar tongs and a tray.
People
The architect James Wyatt (1746-1813), who is known to have made designs for silver for Matthew Boulton in 1776, may have supplied this particular design. Boulton, like his contemporary Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), tried to secure the talents of the best designers available.
Design & Designing
High-quality pattern books like these ensured the rapid spread of fashionable Neo-classical design across Europe and America. Silversmiths often compiled their own design books from a variety of sources. This particular album remained in use in various workshops and manufactories until the 1930s, which indicates how long such patterns remained useful sources of design.
Physical description
Volume containing designs for domestic silver including candlesticks, candelabra, cruet-stands, inkstands, bottle-tickets, waiters, tea-urns, vases, wine coolers, mugs, cups, entrée dishes, a dish-cross, a fish-slcie, sugar-tongs and a tray. 25 plates (one cut) and 121 impressions pasted on 18 leaves (some cut) bound in cloth.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (printed)
Date
ca. 1790 (printed)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Engravings on paper, bound in cloth
Marks and inscriptions
'J. Wateridge 1910'
'Adam’s Silver Candlesticks, Etc.'
Dimensions
Height: 23 cm, Width: 37.5 cm
Object history note
The donor (born 1884) worked for the traditional lighting and metalwork firm of Perry & Co. of Grafton Street around 1910-1935 indicating the longevity of such metalwork pattern books as design sources.
Descriptive line
Volume containing various designs for domestic silverware, engravings, English, ca.1790.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1952. London: HMSO, 1963.
The full text of the entry is as follows:
“ANONYMOUS: Metalwork […]
Volume containing designs for domestic silver including candlesticks, candelabra, cruet-stands, inkstands, bottle-tickets, waiters, tea-urns, vases, wine coolers, mugs, cups, entrée dishes, a dish-cross, a fish-slcie, sugar-tongs and a tray. 25 plates (one cut) and 121 impressions pasted on 18 leaves (some cut) bound in cloth. English, ca.1790.
Lettered variously, inscribed in ink with notes and numbers. Inscribed on flyleaf J. Wateridge 1910. Lettered on spine Adam’s Silver Candlesticks, Etc.
Engravings. Size of volume 23.5 x 36.8 cm.
E.2060-1952
Given by Mr. John Wateridge”
Lambert, Susan (ed.) Pattern & Design: Designs for the Decorative Arts 1480-1980 London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983
The full text of the entry is as follows:
'1.8.a Anonymous, for Matthew Boulton (1728-1809)
Pattern book of designs for silver and Sheffield plate. 25 whole plates and 121 plates pasted onto 18 leaves. In a late-19th century buckram binding. c.1785.
Some plates lettered Square Foot etc. The images numbered in ink from 101 to 348 in an incomplete sequence. Some inscribed in ink with notes. Engravings. Size of volume 22.5 x 35.5 cm
Given by John Wateridge
E.2060-1952
The famous Birmingham manufacturer Matthew Boulton began his marketing experience in 1759 in the 'toy' trade of buttons, chains and other trinkets, in which he built up a network of correspondents 'in almost every mercantile town in Europe' and maintained a number of travelling agents. Although working outside Sheffield he was from the mid-1760s onwards the largest single manufacturer of Sheffield plate. He is known to have produced two engraved catalogues for silver or plate. The first, made in the 1770s, contained small images well adapted to being cut up and sent individually to correspondents rather like the small drawings which were sent to special customers. At a later date, perhaps in the 1780s, he published another catalogue probably for plate alone, containing full-size images like the ones produced by his Sheffield competitors. It is probably this one which was described in 1803 as the 'Book of Engravings ... of plated wares such as he generally sends abroad for Correspondents to order from'. This example is a later amalgamation of the two catalogues. That its donor, John Wateridge (cat. no. 4.6), was a designer in metal who acquired the volume in 1910 indicates how long such patterns remained useful sources of design.'
Labels and date
British Galleries:
Manufacturers in England began to issue illustrated trade catalogues in the mid-1760s. Boulton is known to have produced two engraved catalogues for silver and Sheffield plate to promote sales at home and abroad. This pattern book of designs is a later amalgamation of the two catalogues and illustrates the candlestick shown nearby. [27/03/2003]
Materials
Paper; Cloth
Techniques
Engraving; Binding
Subjects depicted
Cups; Candlesticks; Candelabra; Tray; Silverware; Wine coolers; Mugs; Tea urns; Inkstands; Cruets; Sugar tongs
Categories
Metalwork; Prints
Collection code
PDP
