Box
1925-1929 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Lady Armatrude Waechter de Grimston originally commissioned the toilet set from which this box comes. It was one of John Paul Cooper’s biggest and most successful commissions in shagreen. (Shagreen was originally a species of untanned leather, but from about 1750 nurse sharkskin or the less expensive dogfish skin was used.) The chased decoration of the silver mounts has an aquatic theme, which recalls Cooper's description of shagreen:
a material possessing some of the qualities of both mother of pearl and leather. Its little nodules of concentric rings give one, when the skin is particularly translucent, the feeling of looking deep down into a pool of sea green water . . . One can't do much with a thing like that - put a silver bank round it, I mean a silver moulding, that is practically all.
The chased decoration on the Waechter service is a visual translation of this description. It shows how strongly marine imagery stirred Cooper's imagination. On the mounts he represented the shagreen's murky depths - fish, lobsters, crabs, shells and seaweed. He had made preparatory studies for the designs during a family holiday in Sheringham, Norfolk, in 1927.
a material possessing some of the qualities of both mother of pearl and leather. Its little nodules of concentric rings give one, when the skin is particularly translucent, the feeling of looking deep down into a pool of sea green water . . . One can't do much with a thing like that - put a silver bank round it, I mean a silver moulding, that is practically all.
The chased decoration on the Waechter service is a visual translation of this description. It shows how strongly marine imagery stirred Cooper's imagination. On the mounts he represented the shagreen's murky depths - fish, lobsters, crabs, shells and seaweed. He had made preparatory studies for the designs during a family holiday in Sheringham, Norfolk, in 1927.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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Materials and techniques | Walnut base, shagreen and silver |
Brief description | Walnut covered in green shagreen with silver mounts, London, (no hallmarks), 1925-29, designed and made by John Paul Cooper |
Physical description | Shgreen with silver mounts, covering a walnut base, the lid with a band of silver around the edge, chased with a sea animal design. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Marks and inscriptions | No hallmarks (inside lid stamped: JPC for John Paul Cooper) |
Object history | "Acquisition RF: No number or name Originally commissioned by Lady Armatrude Waechter de Grimston From a Toilet set. One of the biggest and most successful shagreen commissions, the aquatic subject matter of the chased decoration on its silver mounts recalls Cooper's description of shagreen as "" a material possessing some of the qualities of both mother of pearl and leather. Its little nodules of concentric rings give one, when the skin is particularly translucent, the feeling of looking deep down into a pool of sea green water…One can't do much with a thing like that - put a silver bank round it, I mean a silver moulding, that is practically all."" The chased decoration on the Waechter service is a visual translation of this description and shows how strongly marine imagery stirred Cooper's imagination. On its mounts are represented the shagreen's murky depths - fish , lobsters, crabs, shells and seaweed - for which Cooper made preparatory studies during a 1927 family holiday in Sheringham, Norfolk. Chased representational mouldings are extremely rare on Cooper's shagreen. They only appear on a few pieces executed between 1924 and 1933 and then mainly on female, toilet articles." Neg._No: JE 2134 group |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | Lady Armatrude Waechter de Grimston originally commissioned the toilet set from which this box comes. It was one of John Paul Cooper’s biggest and most successful commissions in shagreen. (Shagreen was originally a species of untanned leather, but from about 1750 nurse sharkskin or the less expensive dogfish skin was used.) The chased decoration of the silver mounts has an aquatic theme, which recalls Cooper's description of shagreen: a material possessing some of the qualities of both mother of pearl and leather. Its little nodules of concentric rings give one, when the skin is particularly translucent, the feeling of looking deep down into a pool of sea green water . . . One can't do much with a thing like that - put a silver bank round it, I mean a silver moulding, that is practically all. The chased decoration on the Waechter service is a visual translation of this description. It shows how strongly marine imagery stirred Cooper's imagination. On the mounts he represented the shagreen's murky depths - fish, lobsters, crabs, shells and seaweed. He had made preparatory studies for the designs during a family holiday in Sheringham, Norfolk, in 1927. |
Collection | |
Accession number | M.33D/1, 2-1984 |
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Record created | March 9, 2004 |
Record URL |
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