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Metalwork Design

1780 (made)
Artist/Maker
Matthew Boulton Plate Co.
Unknown (designer)
Unknown (printmaker)
Place of origin
Birmingham (made)

Unknown designer (after), page of engraved designs from a silverware pattern book for the firm of Matthew Boulton, ca. 1780.

Object details

Categories
Designs
Metalwork
Ornament Prints
Object type
Metalwork design
Materials and techniques
Paper
Printing Ink
Engraving
Brief description
Unknown designer (after), page of engraved designs from a silverware pattern book for the firm of Matthew Boulton, ca. 1780.
Dimensions
  • Average size of volume page height: 18cm
  • Average size of volume page width: 11cm
Object history
This is a very rare pattern book which came from the firm of Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), the Birmingham-based manufacturer, engineer and entrepreneur. He was, amongst other things, a leading manufacturer of silver and Sheffield plate.

This volume contains engravings of 214 objects, pasted onto the 90 constituent pages of the pattern book. The designs are for domestic silverware and include candlesticks, candelabra, fish-slices, cruet-stands and tea-urns. High-quality pattern books like these ensured the rapid spread of fashionable Neo-classical design across Europe and America.
Bibliographic reference
Angus Patterson, "A Timely Acquisition: The V&A's Matthew Boulton Pattern Book, ca. 1779", Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, Vol. 17, June 2009, pp. 58-75, ill.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.1150:66-2008

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Record createdJune 8, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O240140/metalwork-design-unknown/
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