Silver, steel inlaid with coloured golds and copper, Birmingham hallmarks for 1883-4, mark of Frederick Elkington for Elkington and Co., designed by Auguste Wilms

An oval bodied vase standing on a quatrefoil foot. The body is composed of two oval panels of steel inlaid with coloured golds, silver and copper in Japonaiserie style with birds, plants and insects including a spider with its web. The panels are set in a frame of silver: on either side, flying from flowers is a pair of putti. The quatrefoil foot of the base is also composed of steel panels mounted in silver, the panels inlaid with insects and blossom and around the base of the foot, with a stylised border foliage and flowers. The neck of the vase has an inlaid steel collar beneath further inlaid panels and mounted on each side with a female face in silver. The interior of the neck is silver gilt. The stopper is surmounted by an eagle on a ball secured into the body of the vase by a rod and screw thread.

For a parallel to the eagle stopper, see The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 1862, p.195

Historical significance: The Art Journal illustrated the vase in 1894: J.H. Fallon wrote the following criticism.

"The Jasmine vase, designed by Wilms, is a good example of combining silver with other metals. Its body, neck and foot are formed of steel damascened with gold and silver. It is bordered with silver, the outer parts of which are wrought into cupids and jasmine. The jasmine, though deftly done, does not entitle it to have the vase called after it. The cupids at the sides, the eagle at the top, the mask on the neck, the squirrels on the foot and the somewhat Japanese bird display on the front and the back, overpower it and arrest and absorb attention from the first look at the object as a whole. The mere misnaming of the vase does not, however, detract from the art value of it, and the excellency of the work is beyond dispute." (p.220)

The Art Journal illustrated the vase in 1894: J.H. Fallon wrote the following criticism.

"The Jasmine vase, designed by Wilms, is a good example of combining silver with other metals. Its body, neck and foot are formed of steel damascened with gold and silver. It is bordered with silver, the outer parts of which are wrought into cupids and jasmine. The jasmine, though deftly done, does not entitle it to have the vase called after it. The cupids at the sides, the eagle at the top, the mask on the neck, the squirrels on the foot and the somewhat Japanese bird display on the front and the back, overpower it and arrest and absorb attention from the first look at the object as a whole. The mere misnaming of the vase does not, however, detract from the art value of it, and the excellency of the work is beyond dispute." (p.220)

M.84:1, 2-1987