A design for a silver tankard by Thomas Sharp (1805- 1882), circa 1835- 1850

A drawing of a silver tankard, shown in profile. Full size 266 x 234.
Barrel shaped body with a bulging gadrooned lower section, flat lid and a vine stem handle. On the body the same allegorical scene as D.2213-1885.

The scene on this tankard is the same as that on D.2213-1885 and D.2200-1885, which are preliminary designs for a cup shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
It also shares other decorative elements with D.2200-1885. The vine handle extending into the vines of the scene may suggest that this tankard is the earliest of these group of drawings.
The flat cover is similar to that on E.357-1886 by Thomas Sharp which shows a tankard made by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell in 1827.
The paper mount of this drawing and other drawings by Sharp in the collection may have originated in his workshop.
On the back of the sheet part of a design perhaps for a gothic chandelier.
Bought on 2nd February 1886 from the dealer R. Jackson for 1s and 6d.
Thomas Sharp was a sculptor, chaser and wax modeller, who also designed silver. He attended the Royal Academy schools in 1831 and gained a silver medal three years later.That he may have been connected with Rundell, Bridge and Rundell is suggested by the tankard design E. 357- 1886, and the fact that two persons named Sharp, Cato and Josiah, were managers of Rundell’s Dean Street workshop until 1833 (J. Culme, Nineteenth Century Silver, 1977, p. 81).

E.358-1886