CIRCA 1815

The acid-etched pattern of scrolls and foliage in low relief to the base of this beautifully figured vase is reminiscent of the work of George Bullock (d. 1818). The two designs repeated on the four sides of the plinth echo patterns for inlaid 'buhl' work in both brass and wood that can be found on furniture made by Bullock and there are parallels amongst the collection of designs in the 'Wilkinson Tracings' (‘Tracings by Thomas Wilkinson from the designs of the late Mr. George Bullock 1820’, City Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham, M.3.74).
A pair of Campana-shaped vases in black marble with low relief decoration of flowers and leaves to the bodies, in a manner similar to the decoration of this plinth, is illustrated in C. Wainwright et al., George Bullock: Cabinet-maker, London, 1988, p. 145, no. 72. Whilst there is no documentation for the pair of vases, the fact that they are in a private collection in a Scottish house to which Bullock is known to have supplied furniture, coupled with their distinctive design, makes an attribution to Bullock probable. A further pair of two-handled urns in black marble with distinctly Bullock-esque acid-etched decoration to the bodies, are in another historic English collection. Interestingly, a large vase made by James Shore in 1815, now in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, features a foliate pattern carved in low relief to its black marble handles. The handles of the Shore vase are, however, not original to the vase, which had been made originally with blue john handles that were apparently damaged or changed by the time that William Adam's 4th edition of 'Gem of the Peak' was published in 1848 (T. Ford, Derbyshire Blue John, Ashbourne, 2005, pp. 82 and 86).