S194: Cream jug
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© The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath
| Museum number | S194 |
| Title | Cream jug |
| Object type | In category: Metalwork » Pouring vessel » Jug » Milk/cream jug |
| Date | Circa 1750 |
| People |
Unknown - Gold/silversmith(s) |
| Place of origin | Europe » Northern Europe » British Isles » Ireland » Ireland |
| Condition |
Good |
| Dimensions |
9.4 cm height whole 14.0 cm width whole 8.3 cm depth whole |
| Materials & techniques |
In categories: Metal » Silver Metal » Silver-gilt |
| Description | Helmet-shaped silver cream jug with a moulded band around the middle and an acutely angled double-scroll handle. On three lion-mask paw feet. The body is embossed and chased with a heron, duck and dolphin below the band and flowers and foliage above it. Below the front lip is an embossed and chased rocaille cartouche with a Chinese figure to one side. The interior of the jug is gilded. | ||||||
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Style |
Rococo
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| Notes | Although it is not hallmarked, the form and decoration of this cream jug is typically Irish. Irish rococo silver is often chased with flamboyant and imaginative animals and is quite unlike its English counterpart. The Lion’s-mask foot first made an appearance in Ireland about 1740 and enjoyed great popularity until the early 1770s. Sir William Holburne appears to have been particularly interested in eighteenth-century Irish silver. This is one of 21 pieces collected by him, although several have only subsequently been identified as Irish. Sir William lent four pieces of Irish silver to the National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds in 1868 (L626). |
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| Literature |
A. Butcher and E. J. C. Smith, A Catalogue of Silver at the Holburne Museum, Bath, 1996, p.7, no. 50 |
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| Muse theme | The Art of Collecting |
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| Muse chapter |
The History of the Holburne Collection » The Collection » Silver
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| Gallery Label |
Two cream jugs Dublin, c.1765. Maker's mark for the larger jug: RC for Robert Calderwood, the smaller jug unmarked. The interiors later gilt and engraved with the arms of Sir William Holburne.The bold asymmetrical cartouches enclosing birds and reed on these jugs are similar to those on the Irish coffee pot also in this case.Robert Calderwood worked in Dublin from 1727 to 1766 and was Master of the Goldsmiths Company of Dublin. (Unknown) 2004 |
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| Method of acquisition | Bequest | ||||||
| Provenance | Sir T. W. Holburne (1793-1874); by whom bequeathed to Mary Anne Barbara Holburne (1802-1882); by whom bequeathed to the Museum | ||||||
| Exhibition history |
Title of exhibition: Centenary Exhibition of Silver in the Holburne Collection |
