The following two terracotta groups of Commerce and Britannia, offered as two lots, were commissioned from Doulton Lambeth in 1895-6 and on completion were erected on the façade of Thomas Edward Knightley's (d.1905) High Victorian extravaganza, the Birkbeck Bank, finished in 1902.
When Knightley's project was exhibited at the Paris Salon as early as 1889, a critic at Le Figaro concluded that it was "de style Renaissance italienne, très bien étudie, d'une grande allure." In fact, the building was designed in the highest of the High Renaissance manner, incorporating two storeys of rusticated plinth, two storeys of coupled giant columns of Composite order and an attic of dormers and chimney-pots. The exterior of the edifice was faced in Doulton's then recently developed hard matt-glazed stoneware, impermeable to the pollution of the capital and called Carrara Ware. The nature of the material allowed for a wonderful controlled vibrancy of colour that Knightley exploited to the full in the peacock-green columns, biscuit-coloured rings and swags and ginger-brown-coloured lower section.
The architectural details of the bank were supplemented and embellished by the addition of a large amount of sculpture, in both terracotta and glazed stoneware, and all modelled for Doulton by John Broad. As well as the present two groups of Britannia and Commerce, which in their former position flanking the main entrance to the Bank were probably the largest items of sculpture to adorn either the interior or exterior of the building, Broad's commission also included a set of 7ft. high male caryatids, a series of large portrait busts of characters such as Pugin, Flaxman, Brunel, Michelangelo etc. and, at the base of the domed ceiling of the banking hall, sixteen semi-circular tile panels representing trades, industries and scenes connected with banking.
The Birkbeck Bank ceased trading in 1911 and its lavish headquarters became the Chancery Lane branch of the Westminster Bank, remaining so until 1965 when the building was demolished to make way for the new Westminster Bank. The groups of Britannia and Commerce were subsequently purchased by the uncle of the present owner.
A rare life-size Doulton Lambeth terracotta group entitled 'Commerce'
MODELLED BY JOHN BROAD, CIRCA 1895-6
Details
A rare life-size Doulton Lambeth terracotta group entitled 'Commerce'
Modelled by John Broad, Circa 1895-6
Depicting the robed female figure emblematic of Commerce seated with sacks of produce, another woman kneeling at her side, carrying a ewer, on a rectangular base inscribed J. Broad Scp. and DOULTON LAMBETH, losses and damages
60in. (152.3cm.) wide; 71in. (180.4cm.) high
Modelled by John Broad, Circa 1895-6
Depicting the robed female figure emblematic of Commerce seated with sacks of produce, another woman kneeling at her side, carrying a ewer, on a rectangular base inscribed J. Broad Scp. and DOULTON LAMBETH, losses and damages
60in. (152.3cm.) wide; 71in. (180.4cm.) high
Provenance
The Birkbeck Bank, Chancery Lane, London, erected 1895-1902.
Purchased by the uncle of the present owner on the dismantling of the building in 1965.
Purchased by the uncle of the present owner on the dismantling of the building in 1965.
Literature
B. Westwood and Noel Brandon-Jones, The "Birkbeck" Bank, in Architect and Building News, 1948, Vol. CXCIV, pp. 466-7.
N. Taylor, Ceramic Extravagance, in Architectural Review, 1965, Vol. CXXXVIII, pp. 335-41.
L. Irvine and P. Atterbury, The Doulton Story, Victoria and Albert Museum Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1979, p. 78.
N. Taylor, Ceramic Extravagance, in Architectural Review, 1965, Vol. CXXXVIII, pp. 335-41.
L. Irvine and P. Atterbury, The Doulton Story, Victoria and Albert Museum Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1979, p. 78.