Lot 3
A late 19th-Century gilt-copper electrotype tankard
£1,071
Auction: 7 March 2023 at 10:00 GMT
Description
Elkington Mason & Co. of Birmingham circa 1860, of cylindrical form, with S-scroll handle, the hinged lid with baby Bacchus finial, after a 17th-century ivory tankard with silver mounts, representing the drunken Silenus, scroll handle and baby Bacchus finial, the underside inscribed 'From the original ivory in the possession of Henry Bedford Esqr, executed by Elkington Mason & Co. 1348'
Dimensions
Footnote
Note:
The Victorian era brought much invention and discovery, both industrial and for the arts. The firm Elkington & Co. were the epitome of innovation and were at the forefront of developments of electro-metallurgy.
Elkington & co. honed their skills to create electroplate masterpieces and in particular electrotype facsimile copies of museum quality artefacts. They were also the only British company to consistently win the highest awards at all seven of the International Exhibitions held from 1851-1878.
Founded by cousins, George Richards Elkington and Henry Elkington, and financed by the steel pen magnate Josiah Mason the company formed a relationship with the pre-cursor to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the South Kensington Museum to produce facsimile copies of museum artefacts for educational purposes known as a ‘type pattern’.
In order to re-produce these type patterns, a mould is first made of the original piece and then sprayed with a silver paint to help conduct electricity, dipped in a solution with copper wires this first helps connect the copper and then the silver. The complex process produces a product that can be handled and examined for further research.
Elkington & Co. was a commercial enterprise and did sell their electrotype wares. The Bedford tankard was the third project between the South Kensington Museum and Elkington & Co. It is the only known example where the name of the owner was credited on the piece. Various options were provided for the tankard with entirely copper costing 7l 7s to gilt or parcel gilt with a price of 10l 10s.
Francis Bedford (1815-1894) loaned the 17th-century tankard to the museum in 1854. He was the founder of the Photographic Society of London (later the Royal Photographic Society), Prince Albert had commissioned him to photograph items in the Royal Collection and even purchased an image of the tankard taken by Bedford which still resides in the Royal collections today RCIN 2906112. The Bedford family were primarily civil servants, but their link to Sir Horace Walpole (1717-1797) might explain their interest in the arts. Horace was the youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain's first Prime Minister. His house Strawberry hill in Sussex became a living museum itself encompassing Renaissance maiolica, Holbein drawings, arms and armour among other collections. Bedford consequently was keen for further investigation on his museum worthy tankard.
The purpose of their exercise was to provide educational tools, but with Elkington's success, they began to use the elements of the original 'type patterns' such as a handle, for other designs. This created a conflict of interest and may have been a contributing factor to why the relationship ended.
There is today still a silver-gilt mounted ivory tankard carved with the same version of the Silenus story but with a different finial, in the Victoria & Albert Museum (accession number 880-1882), from the bequest in 1882 of John Jones, and is on display in the Whitely Galleries. More recent research has deemed that Ivory drum attributed to Flemish Baroque sculptor François Duquesnoy is now thought to be Augsburg Germany.
Lots 3 and 4 offer an interesting insight into the Victorian period where the commercial industrial drive meets the desire to improve social and public order.
