Agnes Berry thumbnail 1
Agnes Berry thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Agnes Berry

Relief
ca. 1790-1820 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Agnes Berry is shown in full relief facing to the front. She wears a white lace shawl over a dark red dress and a lace headdress. The bust is framed at the front by a blue curtain and the wax is set in a gilt surround within the oval giltwood frame.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, low relief portraits in wax became popular in Britain and they were often exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of Artists and elsewhere. Waxes were used in a similar way to prints and medals, in order to disseminate the image of the sitter, or, like miniature paintings or silhouettes as portable mementoes.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleAgnes Berry
Materials and techniques
Wax in giltwood frame
Brief description
Relief, Wax, English, Samuel Percy (1750-1820), about 1790-1820
Physical description
The three quarter length bust of Agnes Berry is shown in full relief, facing to the front. She wears a white lace shawl over a dark red dress, and a lace headdress. The bust is framed at the front by a blue curtain, and the wax is set in a gilt surround within an oval giltwood frame.
Dimensions
  • Framed height: 32cm
  • Framed width: 24cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'To see the representation of Nature / To perfect Advantage / Hold the Top of the Head to the Light, that all / The Features may catch the shade; without which / the Beauty of the Human Face would be lost (?), / Or but imperfectly seen / Percy no [no number] / Mary Bate'. (Handwritten label on the back.)
  • 'One of the sisters Agnes and Mary Berry "Ladies of Raith'. (Handwritten label on the back.)
  • 'Cleaned P.A.T.B. August 31st 1924'. (Handwritten label on the back.)
Credit line
From the Mary Bate Collection
Object history
From the Mary Bate Collection, ex. loan 2. Bought from Philip Bate for £120.
Subject depicted
Summary
Agnes Berry is shown in full relief facing to the front. She wears a white lace shawl over a dark red dress and a lace headdress. The bust is framed at the front by a blue curtain and the wax is set in a gilt surround within the oval giltwood frame.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, low relief portraits in wax became popular in Britain and they were often exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of Artists and elsewhere. Waxes were used in a similar way to prints and medals, in order to disseminate the image of the sitter, or, like miniature paintings or silhouettes as portable mementoes.
Bibliographic references
  • Penny, Nicholas, Catalogue of European Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum, III, Oxford, 1992, p. 203.
  • Pyke, E.J. A Biographical Dictionary of Wax Modellers, Oxford, 1973, p. 103.
Collection
Accession number
A.13-1970

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Record createdMarch 17, 2004
Record URL
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