A Victorian Gothic revival beaker
Auction: 05 March 2024 from 10:00 GMT
Description
John Hardman & Co., Birmingham 1866, the design attributed to Edward Welby Pugin, of tapered form with gilt interior, bearing inscription AND HE SHOWED ME A PURE RIVER OF WATER OF THE CLEAR AS CRYSTAL, with an applied central band of Gothic tendrils and four enamelled cartouches, one depicting the Virgin teaching the Christ child to read
Dimensions
Height: 10cm, weight: 8oz
Footnote
Note:
John Hardman & Co. based in Birmingham were at the heart of the Gothic Revival movement of the 19th Century. Famed for ecclesiastical fittings, they worked closely with designers of this movement including A. W. Pugin, E.W. Pugin and G.E. Street. With many pieces held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, a piece with similar typography as to this beaker features on a chalice by John Hardman & Co. and George Edmund Street for St. Paul's Church, Brighton, accession number LOAN:BRIGHTON.2.
At the forefront of this movement was the rejection of the mass-production so heavily available in the era of industrialisation. Designers such as A.W. Pugin and his son E. W Pugin were huge proponents of the movement. Whilst he is perhaps best recognised for his architectural commissions, which include the Palace of Westminster, it was the legacy of A. W. Pugin’s writings and designs for furniture, ceramics and metalwork which helped spread the vision of Gothic Revival around Britain.