LATE 19TH CENTURY

細節

A LATE VICTORIAN MAHOGANY AND FRUITWOOD TABLE CROQUET SET
LATE 19TH CENTURY
Complete with eight mallets with sycamore handles and balls colour-coded in red and blue, nine metal hoops, two posts, a webbed canvas border, four fruitwood table securers, seven green-painted lead ball rests, a mahogany stand with turned baluster column and eight mallet rests, on turned moulded foot and a mahogany case, the case stencilled to the top 'CROQUET' and inscribed to the underside of the lid in pencil 'LZ-ET' and '£3-12-6'

注意事項

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

拍品專文

It was Mr. Jaques who brought the game of croquet to notice in England at the 1851 Great Exhibition and the game quickly became one of the leading outdoor pursuits in Victorian Britain. Its popularity spread to the Colonies - one gentleman of the time, noting in a that the game was introduced in India 'during the hot weather of 1864 at Simla' and observed that 'the Viceroy played with an entire mallet of ivory - as became his position' (J. Charlton and William Thompson, Croquet: The Complete Guide to History, Strategy, Rules and Records, New York, 1977).
Back in England, croquet was primarily an after-dinner recreation. Several firms such as R. Bliss & Co and Bussey's manufactured table croquet games in the second half of the nineteenth century. Presumably the demand for this indoor alternative was due to poor weather conditions inhibiting a passion for the sport. In 1866 'Cavendish' (pseudonym of Henry Jones) produced Improved Table Croquet: Directions and Rules, published by Parkins & Giotte.
Cavendish (1831-1899) qualified MRCS, practised as a GP until 1869 when he changed tack and became a full-time writer on games and sport. He joined the All England Croquet Club in 1869 and was instrumental in laying the foundations for the Wimbledon tennis tournament we know today. In 1875, Jones proposed that one of the club's croquet lawns should be set aside for the playing of lawn tennis, and two years later the first Lawn Tennis Championships were born.