AN ACID ETCHED AND CUT GLASS EWER AND GOBLET BY HOLYROOD GLASS WORKS, EDINBURGH
19TH CENTURY
£525
Scottish Silver & Applied Arts
Auction: 16 August 2017 at 12:00 BST
Description
each with scrolled decoration and diamond borders, the ewer etched with a scene depicting Edinburgh Castle and inscribed EDINBURGH CASTLE, the goblet etched with a scene depicting Calton Hill and inscribed CALTON HILL (2)
Dimensions
Ewer height: 32.5cm, goblet height: 18cm
Footnote
Note: Royal Holyrood Glass Works was a flint-glass factory operating from the Canongate in Edinburgh, run by the Ford family. They had a large premises where the glass was made, and a further glass-engraving workshop in Norton Place, which was held to employ "forty men and boys", mainly local employees who served a six year traineeship for this highly skilled job. The company had its roots in the Caledonian Glass House, which was taken over by William Ford in 1812, before being moved to the South Bank at the Canongate. In 1839, Ford's nephew, John Ford, took on the business, and the company assumed the title of the Royal Holyrood Glass Works in 1855 when Queen Victoria granted it the title of 'Glass Maker to her Majesty'. They produced a large range of table wares, services, and ornaments, including a bust of Benjamin Disraeli now in the collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and a number of pieces held at the National Museums Scotland.