Wax Flower Making Kit
1850-1860 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
This kit, contained in a practical metal box, includes all the materials required for the amateur to make wax flowers. The patterns include familiar garden flowers, such as dahlias, and more unusual plants, such as a scarlet passion flower. Once finished, the wax flowers would have been placed in a vase and protected under a glass shade.
People
Mintorn & Son specialised in glass shades and imported alabaster vases of various shapes and sizes as well as kits for modelling wax flowers, like this example. The firm had premises in various fashionable addresses in central London, including the Pantheon Bazaar, Oxford Street, and New Bond Street, from the 1840s to the 1860s.
Ownership & Use
Modelling wax flowers was an amateur hobby enjoyed by women. John and Horatio Mintorn, the makers of this kit, published an instruction manual, Modelling Wax Flowers, in 1844. It was clearly aimed at a fashionable audience, with a dedication to the Duchess of Northumberland. Vases of wax flowers under protective glass shades were used to decorate drawing rooms and boudoirs.
This kit, contained in a practical metal box, includes all the materials required for the amateur to make wax flowers. The patterns include familiar garden flowers, such as dahlias, and more unusual plants, such as a scarlet passion flower. Once finished, the wax flowers would have been placed in a vase and protected under a glass shade.
People
Mintorn & Son specialised in glass shades and imported alabaster vases of various shapes and sizes as well as kits for modelling wax flowers, like this example. The firm had premises in various fashionable addresses in central London, including the Pantheon Bazaar, Oxford Street, and New Bond Street, from the 1840s to the 1860s.
Ownership & Use
Modelling wax flowers was an amateur hobby enjoyed by women. John and Horatio Mintorn, the makers of this kit, published an instruction manual, Modelling Wax Flowers, in 1844. It was clearly aimed at a fashionable audience, with a dedication to the Duchess of Northumberland. Vases of wax flowers under protective glass shades were used to decorate drawing rooms and boudoirs.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 56 parts.
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| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Wax flower making kit, made by Mintorn & Son, in a japanned metal box. Great Britain, ca. 1850-60. |
| Physical description | Box of japanned metal, with wax, paper and wood flower making materials |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by Miss Mary Scott |
| Object history | Manufactured by Mintorn & Son, 106 New Bond Street, London. Made in London |
| Summary | Object Type This kit, contained in a practical metal box, includes all the materials required for the amateur to make wax flowers. The patterns include familiar garden flowers, such as dahlias, and more unusual plants, such as a scarlet passion flower. Once finished, the wax flowers would have been placed in a vase and protected under a glass shade. People Mintorn & Son specialised in glass shades and imported alabaster vases of various shapes and sizes as well as kits for modelling wax flowers, like this example. The firm had premises in various fashionable addresses in central London, including the Pantheon Bazaar, Oxford Street, and New Bond Street, from the 1840s to the 1860s. Ownership & Use Modelling wax flowers was an amateur hobby enjoyed by women. John and Horatio Mintorn, the makers of this kit, published an instruction manual, Modelling Wax Flowers, in 1844. It was clearly aimed at a fashionable audience, with a dedication to the Duchess of Northumberland. Vases of wax flowers under protective glass shades were used to decorate drawing rooms and boudoirs. |
| Bibliographic reference | Noël Riley, The Accomplished Lady. A History of Genteel Pursuits c. 1660-1860. Leeds: Oblong, 2017, illustrated p. 226. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.185 to AAA-1923 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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