Not currently on display at the V&A

Mrs Elizabeth Best

Relief
ca. 1780-1800 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, low relief portraits in wax became popular in Britain and they were often exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of Artists and elsewhere. Waxes were used in a similar way to prints and medals, in order to disseminate the image of the sitter, or, like miniature paintings or silhouettes as portable mementoes.

The finishing on this portrait is astoundingly detailed. Low relief polychrome wax portraits were produced using the same basic principles as monochrome ones: modelling in soft wax, taking a plaster mould and then casting. However when the initial mould was finished it was cut into separate sections and each part cast in the prevailing colour. The pieces were then joined together on their backing using molten wax and the surface finishing completed in a similar way. On the surface additional sheets of sculpted wax and chasing has been used to add further detail.

Portraits of Elizabeth Best's husband, Thomas and two of their children are also in the collection.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleMrs Elizabeth Best
Materials and techniques
Wax
Brief description
Relief, wax, English, by Samuel Percy (1750-1820), about 1780-1800
Physical description
Polychrome wax relief of subject in half-length, profile to the left.
Dimensions
  • Without frame height: 9.3cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Percy No 582' (Inscribed on the frame in the front.)
  • 'Mrs Best, wife of Thos Best, Park House, Boxley née Irwin'. (Written on an old label on the back of the frame.)
Credit line
Rupert Gunnis Bequest
Object history
Bequeathed by Rupert Gunnis Esq.
Summary
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, low relief portraits in wax became popular in Britain and they were often exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of Artists and elsewhere. Waxes were used in a similar way to prints and medals, in order to disseminate the image of the sitter, or, like miniature paintings or silhouettes as portable mementoes.

The finishing on this portrait is astoundingly detailed. Low relief polychrome wax portraits were produced using the same basic principles as monochrome ones: modelling in soft wax, taking a plaster mould and then casting. However when the initial mould was finished it was cut into separate sections and each part cast in the prevailing colour. The pieces were then joined together on their backing using molten wax and the surface finishing completed in a similar way. On the surface additional sheets of sculpted wax and chasing has been used to add further detail.

Portraits of Elizabeth Best's husband, Thomas and two of their children are also in the collection.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Trusted, Marjorie (ed.), The Making of Sculpture. The materials and techniques of European Sculpture, London, 2007, p. 30, pl. 42.
  • Crookshank, Anne. Irish Portraits 1660-1860 , London : Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art, 1969 no.177
Collection
Accession number
A.89-1965

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Record createdMarch 17, 2004
Record URL
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