Chinese sang-de-boeuf vase, silver-gilt mounts and semi-precious stones, designed by William Burges, 1867, made London ca. 1870 (no hallmarks).

Boxes

Decanter, Chinese, 18th century, sang-de-boeuf vase mounted in silver-gilt with filigree, enamel and semi-precious stones. The body of the vase caged in four hinged vertical and two horizontal straps, with carved Chinese jade and other stones at the intersections and elsewhere. Openwork quatrefoils surrounding the lower horizontal straps, from which spring subsidiary ribs, also gem set. The circular silver-gilt foot beaded and with an inscription reserved on blue and green enamel: WILLIELMUS:BVUGES:EX:LIBRO:SUO:ANO:DNI:MDCCCLXX. Openwork tracery, filigree decoration and coral decorate the mount on the neck. The hinged cover has an enamelled grotesque on the inside and is surmounted by coral carved in the form of a sphinx and a female face.

The Chinese porcelain vase has been atrributed to the Qing dynasty (1736-1795).

Given in memory of Lavinia and Charles Handley-Read by Mr. Thomas Stainton.

Designed by William Burges for his own collection in 1867; made by unknown silversmith in 1870 (see Notes).

Label inside the decanter says: "J8 William Burges; 1870 Lent by Colum Crichton Stuart". This refers to the loan of this object to the Victoria and Decorative Arts held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1952.

A colour sketch of the sang-de-boeuf decanter, signed and dated 1867, is mounted on sheet 17 of Burges's Orfevrerie Domestique. Like the other decanters he designed, he had plainly worked out the design well in advance of commissioning its execution. The inscription states that the piece was made as a result of his book, Architectural Drawings published in 1870. Burges died unmarried, and in his will he requested his patron, the 3rd Marquess of Bute, and Lady Bute, to select an item or items from amongst the metalwork he had designed for his own use. This sang-de-boeuf decanterwas chosen, as was the `Cat Cup', both of which are illustrated in R.P. Pullan, The Architectural Designs of William Burges, London 1885, pl.18 & 19. Lord Colum Chrichton-Stuart, to whom the decanter eventually passed, lent it to the exhibition of Victorian and Edwardian Decorative Arts held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1952 (Catalogue no. J8). It was sold by the Hon. Richard Bingham at Christie's on July 18th, 1968, lot 249.

William Burges had a large collection of Chinese porcelain, and on several occasions had pieces mounted into silver. The combination of materials and techniques, and the re-use of antiquarian fragments, are typical conceits of Burges' metalwork. This decanter was designed by William Burges for his own collection in 1867 and made by an unknown silversmith in 1870

M.22-1972