ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN HARDMAN POWELL (1827-1895) OR A.W.N. PUGIN (1812-1852) FOR HARDMAN, POWELL & CO.
VICTORIAN ARTIST'S JEWEL, CIRCA 1850
£4,032
Auction: 11 October 2023 at 10:00 BST
Description
gold and enamel, bears inscription CONSIDER THE LILIES
Dimensions
4cm diameter
Footnote
Literature: Gere C. and Munn G., Artists' Jewellery Pre-Raphaelite to Arts and Crafts, ACC, 1989, p.35, pl.15, for an illustration of a similar brooch, without the inscription, held in the collection of The Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery and purchased by the museum along with other jewellery from an exhibition held at Bingley Hall in 1886. The names of the individual manufacturers were not recorded however the note states that the design history of these very distinctive jewels remains speculative, but they certainly stem from the inspiration of considerable talent of the order of A.W.N. Pugin or William Burges. Another example of this brooch was given by Pugin to his third wife Jane Knill (Christie's London, April 16, 2013, Lot 204.)
Note: The original drawing and a tracing of this brooch survive in the Hardman archive, held at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. The Birmingham brooch and its design drawing were exhibited at Birmingham Gold & Silver 1773-1973, at the City Museum, 28th July-16th September 1973, cat. C54, where it was attributed to John Hardman Powell.