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Mirror Frame

1868 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This mirror frame was bought by the Museum in 1868 from Giovanni Franchi and Son of Clerkenwell, London. It is an electrotype copy of a silver version dating from around 1660 belonging to Knole House in Kent. It was bought with 23 items copied from the house that served as a design source for students in the government schools of design under the aegis of the Department of Science and Art.

The Museum bought electrotypes as part of its growing collection of reproductions. This collection enabled students to look closely at both modern and historic objects that were otherwise inaccessible. Multiple copies of objects allowed many schools to study them at once. Electrotypes provided the same function as the Museum’s collection of plaster casts. the 19th century art critic, Charles Eastlake, felt electrotypes were more instructive than contemporary silver productions: '... so far as the interests of art are concerned it is better to possess a copper-gilt flagon of a good design than a modern trophy cup of twice its weight in gold.'

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Electroformed copper, electroplated with silver
Brief description
Electrotype, octagonal
Marks and inscriptions
Unmarked
Object history
This mirror frame was bought by the Museum in 1868 from Giovanni Franchi and Son of Clerkenwell, London. It is an electrotype copy of a silver version dating from around 1660 belonging to Knole House in Kent. It was bought with 23 items copied from the house that served as a design source for students in the government schools of design under the aegis of the Department of Science and Art.
Summary
This mirror frame was bought by the Museum in 1868 from Giovanni Franchi and Son of Clerkenwell, London. It is an electrotype copy of a silver version dating from around 1660 belonging to Knole House in Kent. It was bought with 23 items copied from the house that served as a design source for students in the government schools of design under the aegis of the Department of Science and Art.

The Museum bought electrotypes as part of its growing collection of reproductions. This collection enabled students to look closely at both modern and historic objects that were otherwise inaccessible. Multiple copies of objects allowed many schools to study them at once. Electrotypes provided the same function as the Museum’s collection of plaster casts. the 19th century art critic, Charles Eastlake, felt electrotypes were more instructive than contemporary silver productions: '... so far as the interests of art are concerned it is better to possess a copper-gilt flagon of a good design than a modern trophy cup of twice its weight in gold.'
Bibliographic references
  • Glanville, Philippa, ed., Silver, Victora and Albert Museum, London, 1996, pp. 60-1
  • John Culme, The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, Jewellers and Allied Traders 1838-1914, Antique Collectors' Club, Woodbridge, 1987, p. 164
Collection
Accession number
REPRO.1868-136

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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