Electrotype reproduction of a flagon in the form of a heraldic leopard, Elkington & Co., 1884, the original of silver-gilt, London, 1600-01

Electrotype reproduction of a flagon in the form of a heraldic leopard supporting a shield and supported by a square base, made from electroformed copper in moulds taken from the original which was then assembled and electrogilded

This electrotype impression of a flagon in the form of a leopard was bought by the Museum in 1884 from Elkington and Co. of New Hall Street, Birmingham and Clekenwell, London. Electrotype copies were used as design aids for artists, artisans and students in the government schools of design which were run under the aegis of the Department of Science and Art.

As an electrotype the leopard is an example of a 19th-century design model. Electrotypes play a key role in helping us to understand the V&A in its earliest days. The Museum grew largely out of the Great Exhibition in 1851 and, under the guidance of Henry Cole, sought to arrest the perceived decline in British design. The Museum collected both 'modern manufactures' and historic works of art for the education of manufacturers, designers and the public, with a long-term goal of improving the quality and quantity of Britain's manufactured goods. Cole was also in charge of the Government Schools of Design, which he set about reforming. Cole passionately believed in the potential of both museums and the schools of design, to raise standards of taste. The museum aimed to acquire original works fo art but is they were not available, then convincing copies as electrotypes, plaster casts and photographs (among others) were a perfectly viable alternative.

The aim of the Museum was to present a lesson in world ornament. 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. Electrotypes provided the same function as the Museum's collection of plaster casts. They sit alongside photography, invented around the same time, as the products of revolutionary new technology that enabled the reproduction of works of art to be made available to a wide audience. The relationship with photography is close. The electrotypes were not generally working copies. They were impressions of the outside surfaces of an object, in effect, 3-dimensional photographs.

Today electrotypes have become historic objects in their own right. They are expressions of Victorian modernity and ambition and reflect the growing involvement of the state in national and international education programmes from the mid-19th century. The technology that went into them was one of the first shoots of the the electrical revolution that underpins the modern world.

The Technology

Electrotypes were a by-product of the invention of electroplating (silver plating by electrolysis).
ELECTROPLATING: Electricity revolutionised the trade of coating base metal objects with silver. Patented by Elkington and Company in the 1840s, this technique was the fulfilment of a century of research into the effects of electricity on metals. A negatively charged silver bar, suspended in a vat of potassium cyanide, deposited a coating of silver on a positively charged base metal (mostly copper, later nickel-silver) object immersed with it. Electroplated objects were fully formed in base metal before plating.
ELECTROGILDING exploited the same technique but used gold bars instead of silver. It was safer than traditional mercury gilding.
ELECTROFORMING transferred the metal deposits directly into moulds in the plating vats. When enough metal had been deposited to create a self-supporting object the mould was removed. Developed by Alexander Parkes, electroforms so accurately mirrored the moulds in which they were created that multiple copies could be created (ELECTROTYPES).

The Process

During the electrotyping process a mould was taken of the original object. The moulds were made from gutta percha or plaster. Gutta percha was a tree-resin from Malaysia that could be melted and poured onto an object, but would set hard and take a perfect impression. During cooling it could also be manipulated. When the mould set, it was removed from the original object and then lined with graphite or plumbago to make it conductive. This mould was then immersed in the plating vats for coating with copper.
For this electrotype, the sequence therefore runs as follows:
Separate moulds were taken of various parts of the leopard. In these, copper impressions were electroformed. These became 'type patterns'. The type patterns became the source for future moulds to be made to save going back to the original, which might be fragile or, in the case of objects in private or overseas collections, inaccessible. In moulds made from the type patterns, copper electrotypes were formed and were then trimmed and assembled to form the complete leopard. The assembled leopard was then dipped into a vat of potassium cyanide mixed with gold in solution and electrogilded using the same technique. The final electrotype is therefore two stages removed from the original, but is still a highly accurate impression.

The Educational Role of Electrotyping

Early experiments in electroplating, often by amateur scientists using Elkington's home electroplating kits, involved coating fruit, flowers and animals in silver or gold "with the most perfect accuracy". They "retained all the characteristics of the specimens before their immersion" (Penny Magazine, 1844). The Art Journal enthused in same year, "The electrotypes are perfect; the finest lines, the most minute dots are as faithfully copied as the boldest objections."
Henry Cole, the first director of the South Kensington Museum (V&A), quickly grasped the educational potential of this new technique. He employed Elkington's and Franchi & Son of Clerkenwell to take moulds of historic and modern objects in the Museum (at their own risk), create copies in copper and then electroplate them. These could be sold freely as reproductions, with a gold, silver or bronze finish, provided they bore the South Kensington Museum's official stamp. To avoid breaking English hallmarking laws, all marks were to be deleted from copies of silver objects. Copies were made of successful modern objects as well as historic works of art
Elkington's display of electrotypes at the 1867 Paris Exhibition proved extremely popular and prompted Cole to organise a convention at which 14 European countries agreed to exchange works of art. Representatives of Elkington's and the V&A sent staff to Germany, Sweden, France, Denmark and Hungary. The most ambitious trip, to Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1880, secured copies of over 200 items from the Kremlin and the Hermitage, including much Elizabethan and Stuart silver, sich as the leopard, sent as ambassadorial gifts to the Tsars. By 1920 the V&A held over 3000 electrotypes. Copies toured the country as part of the museum's educational programmes and were sold to the public and to museums and art schools.

Electrotyping as a Product of Industrialisation

Elkingtons were a commercial giant selling electrotypes for profit as well as instruction. A variety of finishes met a range of tastes and budgets. Electrotypes are also relics of 19th-century industrialisation and mass production. The process of electroplating and electrotyping favoured companies that could afford large factories and expensive technology. The power of the machinery and new technology now at the disposal of the silver industry encouraged modern mass production to develop. Electroplaters could create thousands of identical objects using a fraction of the amount of silver to create "a degree of mechanical finish it would be difficult to surpass" ('Art Union', 1846). The focus of silver and silver product manufacture moved from London to the new factories of Birmingham and Sheffield.
Some smaller companies trying to keep pace with industrial change suffered. The large vats of potassium cyanide required spacious, well-ventilated factories. A report at the Great Exhibition claimed workers in smaller companies suffered blistered skin, headaches temporary blindness and nausea.
This combination of art education and mass production made electrotypes the perfect marriage of art and industry. Today the technology is alla round us. Electronic circuitry, microchips and nanotechnology all owe their existence to the developments of the pioneering work of Elkington & Co in the 1840s whose first commercial application was the production of art and luxury items and the reproduction of works of art such as the leopard.

Electrotype reproduction

This is an electrotype copy of one of an English silver-gilt flagon in the form of a heraldic leopard. The original bears London hallmarks for 1600-1601 and was made as a gifts for Elizabeth I. Flagons of this form were intended purely for ceremonial use and are unique among English silverwares of the early 17th century. The electrotype was made in 1884 as an instructive design model for art students working in the government schools of design.

The original flagons were kept in 'The great guilt cubberd of Estate [sic]' and were sold in 1626 by Charles I when Parliament failed to vote him sufficient funds. They were taken to Russia by the English merchant Fabian Smith and were sold to Tsar Mikhail Romanov in 1629.

In 1867 a series of electrotypes of English silver from South Kensington were sent to St Petersburg, Russia. Later the Director of the South Kensington Museum wished to acquire electrotype copies of the English silver in the Kremlin. In 1881 two craftsmen from Elkingtons, the leading electrotype manufacturers in Britain, were sent to Moscow to take moulds of over 200 items including the original leopard flagons. The electrotypes were finally finished and produced by Elkingtons in 1884. For this electrotype copy alone, the museum paid £60 in 1884.

The technique of making or reproducing objects by electrotyping was first demonstrated in 1838 and was developed by Elkington & Co. in the 1840s. It involves making a series of moulds from an original object and then making a model, usually in copper, from that mould. The model and a quantity of the plating metal (usually silver or gold) were then connected to electric terminals and placed in a bath filled with a conductive solution. The electrical current causes particles of the plating metal to be deposited on the surface of the model. The plated object was then worked manually to erase imperfections.

REPRO.1884-104