William Burges. Design for a gold or silver vase and cover with a cat and mice design. English, ca. 1855 - 1881.

10 designs in pencil, pen and watercolour drawn on separate sheets and pasted to a single sheet. The top two are side and section views of a metal container, likely made in gold and silver. It is decorated in floral and heraldic motifs with multicolor jewels. A band with an inscription in medieval font runs below a band of mice figures. A cat or panther sculpture is attached to the top of the lid. The three designs below are miniature designs, likely to be painted on metal pieces, of insects and medieval figures and creatures. Other views of the mice decoration and panther sculpture on the metal container are included in the bottom right corner of the page.

William Burges designed a variety of containers, utensils, and jewellery in gold, silver, crystal, jewels, and a variety of other pressure materials. The style of the his incredibly elegant and highly detailed pieces can only be categorized as eclectic. He derived motifs from a variety of sources ranging from Romanesque, to Japanese, to medieval Gothic.

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