Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level D , Case MD, Shelf 15

Design for Jewellery

Design
ca 1860s
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This design comes from 'The Brogden Album', the album contained 1,593 designs for jewellery and goldsmith's work, mainly in colour and dating between 1848 and 1884. It is a unique record of the years in which John Brogden, an internationally celebrated 'art goldsmith and jeweller worked first in partnership and then as owner-director of his own firm. This was a period of great diversity in fashionable jewellery, and the Brogden firm where noted for their skill in designing and creating a range of styles.

The firm was founded by John Brogden the elder in about 1796. From about 1824 to 1831 it was styled 'Brogden and Garland' and thereafter until 1841 'Garland and Watherston'. The younger Brogden, the son of Thomas Brogden and presumably a relative of the founder, served an apprenticeship to J.W. garland as a goldsmith and jeweller from 1834 to 1841. Following Garland's departure, the remaining partner, J.H. Watherston, removed the firm to new premises at 16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden and in 1848 joined forces with the younger Brogden.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Design for Jewellery (generic title)
  • Jewellery Design (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Drawing in pencil, black ink and watercolour on card.
Brief description
Design for Jewellery, by the firm of John Brogden, about 1860
Physical description
Rectangular paper mounted on card with a pencil, black ink and watercolour drawing depicting a design for a bracelet. This is a colour version of the design with museum number: E.2:86-1986. The bracelet consists of a series of ornate, oval-shaped links inset with red and blue enamel. The clasp contains a cameo of a woman in profile and the central ornament consists of a large oval of blue enamel surrounded by square-cut diamonds and four round stones within an ornate frame. The gold figures of Cupid and a female angel are set against blue enamel in ornate frames on either side of the central ornament.
Dimensions
  • Height: 13.1cm
  • Width: 23.1cm
Styles
Production typeDesign
Marks and inscriptions
Apencil annotation which points to the two winged figures reads: 'The background & their niches may use crimson if thought better'.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This design comes from 'The Brogden Album', the album contained 1,593 designs for jewellery and goldsmith's work, mainly in colour and dating between 1848 and 1884. It is a unique record of the years in which John Brogden, an internationally celebrated 'art goldsmith and jeweller worked first in partnership and then as owner-director of his own firm. This was a period of great diversity in fashionable jewellery, and the Brogden firm where noted for their skill in designing and creating a range of styles.

The firm was founded by John Brogden the elder in about 1796. From about 1824 to 1831 it was styled 'Brogden and Garland' and thereafter until 1841 'Garland and Watherston'. The younger Brogden, the son of Thomas Brogden and presumably a relative of the founder, served an apprenticeship to J.W. garland as a goldsmith and jeweller from 1834 to 1841. Following Garland's departure, the remaining partner, J.H. Watherston, removed the firm to new premises at 16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden and in 1848 joined forces with the younger Brogden.
Bibliographic reference
Huits, Lieske. "At Once 'Ancient' and 'Modern': The Art-Journal's Illustrated Catalogues and the Notion of Adaptation in Nineteenth-Century Historicism", Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 21, no. 3 (Autumn 2022), https://doi.org/10.29411/ncaw.2022.21.3.2.
Collection
Accession number
E.2:90-1986

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Record createdMay 13, 2010
Record URL
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