Soup plate, silver, Birmingham hallmarks for 1867-68, mark of John Hardman and Company, designed by William Burges for John Patrick Crichton Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute.

Soup plate, silver, circular witrh a raised moulded border, decorated with two fillets, the arms of the Marquess of Bute in the centre of the inscription in Lombardi script, distributed between four engraved lines. Deep circular depression with an applied roundel in the centre with a border of four fillets enclosing a composition of a hare wearing a sword belt and scabbard, but dropping his sword and buckler, between two truncated trees, one with a singing bird and the other with a parrot.

Given by Thomas Lumley

William Burges designed a set of 24 soup dishes for the Marquess of Bute, probably in 1867-68. The drawings survive in the Bute archive. Each carried a visual pun, i.e. a sheep dressed as a highlander for Scotch broth. Presumably this specimen was designed for hare soup. A dish engraved with an identical hare medallion is among the 24 dishes still in the possession of the present Marquess, so that this specimen is additional to the set. There are differences, however, which became obvious when the present Marquess took his hare soup dish to Thomas Lumley's premises to compare it with the one in the latter's possession. Firstly, the specimen given to the Museum by Mr. Lumley has never been gilt; secondly, the depression is deeper in the V&A example.

The gift of the soup dish was made in time for it to be included ex-catalogue in the exhibition, The Stange Genius of William Burges, held at the V&A in 1981. Two soup dishes and two fish plates, lent anonymously by Lord Bute, were shown as cat.no. C.75 but the description is erroneous, as it describes the device as enclosed in an eight printed star which applies to the fish plate but not to the soup plates.

It is presumed that the V&A soup plate was a trial piece which Burges had in his own collection. It was acquired by James Sanders of J.W. Walker & Sons for his company collection; identified by Shirley Bury when shown it by Jean Schofield (then acting as his curator) but sold to Thomas Lumley without the information being passed on. Mr Lumley assumed that it had been designed by J.H. Powell, Pugin's pupil and son-in-law, but on learning that it was a Burges piece generously presented it to the V&A.

William Burges designed a set of 24 soup dishes for the Marquess of Bute, probably in 1867-68. The drawings survive in the Bute archive. Each carried a visual pun, i.e. a sheep dressed as a highlander for Scotch broth. Presumably this specimen was designed for hare soup.

M.59-1981