Lot Essay
The design for this and the following lot, illustrated on the right, are from an album of drawing bought by the Victorian and Albert Museum in 1964. The binding, inscribed 'Designs for Plate by John Flaxman etc.' contains twenty-seven pages with twenty-eight designs for silver. John Flaxman (1755-1826), the celebrated artist and sculptor, whose career was the subject of an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, John Flaxman R. A., 1979, is thought to be the author of a number of drawings however, a number of other hands are also evident. The designs were produced for the Royal Goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge and Rundell who made both this and the following lot. John Bridge commissioned leading artists of the day to provide designs for both display and domestic plate. William Theed R. A. (1754-1817) was the chief modeller until 1817. Works were also commissioned from Thomas Stohard (1755-1834) and later from Edward Hodges Bailey (1788-1867). It has been possible to attribute a number of the drawings to one of the above through comparision with other identified works. Theed died in 1817. Assuming the coffee pot and kettle were newly designed for Sir Richard Sutton it is unlikely that they were the work of Theed. Moreover it is debatable whether Flaxman would have laboured over such finished drawings. The hand of either Stodhard or Hodges Bailey seems more likely. Designed in the antique Roman manner, with scrolling Vitruvian foliage and ivy ornament taken from Piranesi's engraving of vases, they epitomise the highest quality of design produced by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, stamped with either Philip Rundell's maker's mark or that of Paul Storr. The designs opposite are mentioned in C. Oman 'A Problem of Artistic Responsibility: The Firm of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell', Apollo, January 1966, 178.
by Courtesy of the Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum
by Courtesy of the Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum