EARLY DAYS
=The invention of silver plating by fusion--Thomas Boulsover of
Sheffield (1704-1788)--A world of knick-knacks--The Sheffield
silver-plating process--Early Sheffield plated productions--Joseph
Hancock--The rise of the Birmingham and other silver platers--The
commencement of the great period of Sheffield plating--Contemporary
silversmiths and their art.=
It was in the year 1743 that a fortunate accident led to the discovery
that copper and silver could be fused together, and happily the value
of the momentary happening led to the further development of the
process and the final perfected invention of plating silver on copper
which laid the foundation of a great and flourishing art industry
which brought wealth and renown to Sheffield and extended to other
centres. The old method of plating continued with various improvements
for a hundred years until superseded. During the years 1750 to 1790
some of the best examples were issued and a stream of fine work
duplicating the silver plate of the period, and not excluding examples
simulating earlier Queen Anne styles, was poured out. Its excellence
of craftsmanship and its cheapness not only won the approval of the
English public but attracted the attention of Continental buyers, and
contemporary with the catalogues of Joseph Wedgwood issued in French
and other languages we find that the Sheffield and Birmingham silver
platers similarly issued illustrated catalogues with designs showing
what they were producing.
=Thomas Boulsover of Sheffield (1704-1788).=--According to some
accounts Thomas Boulsover was a button maker, a spur maker or a cutler,
probably he was all three, and employed in the making of these and
other metal articles then manufactured at Sheffield. He is spoken of as
an "ingenious mechanic." He was probably a practical workman who had a
small shop where articles were brought for repair. It was in connection
with the repair of a knife handle which was partly copper and partly
silver that owing to an accident in the soldering the copper and the
silver fused together. Although to his credit he immediately realized
the possibilities of his discovery, he was possibly too poor a man to
do more than carry out further experiments in a small way and make
buttons and snuff boxes and minor articles by his process. His name is
sometimes spelt as Bolsover, but it would appear that in the records
at Sheffield he registered under the name of Thomas Boulsover and
Co., which is possibly more correct; although in days when duchesses
spelled their title as "dutchess" matters of a letter or two were not
considered very important even in names.
The following extract from the _Derby Mercury_, September 17, 1788, is
an interesting obituary notice of Boulsover:
"On Thursday se'night died at Whitely Wood, near Sheffield, Mr. Thomas
Bolsover aged eighty-four. This Gentleman was the first Inventor
of Plated Metal: which like many other curious Arts was discovered
by Accident. About the year 1750 (at which Time he kept a Cutler's
Shop at Sheffield), Mr. Bolsover was employed to repair a Knife Haft
which was composed of Silver and Copper; and having effected the
Job, the cementing of the two Metals immediately struck him with the
practicability of manufacturing Plated Articles, and he presently
commenced a Manufacture of plated Snuff Boxes and Buttons. Consequently
from Mr. Bolsover's accidental Acquirement, the beneficial and
extensive Trade of plated goods had its origin. He has been justly
esteemed one of the most ingenious Mechanics that Sheffield can boast."
The name Bolsover, says the writer in the _Derby Mercury_, suggests a
Derbyshire origin.
There is little doubt that among the earliest articles to which
Boulsover turned his attention were buttons. Silver was in the time
of Boulsover being sold at approximately six shillings per oz., and,
in view of the cost of solid silver articles, the invention of a
presentable process that would lessen the cost came at an opportune
moment. It must be remembered, too, that there was a duty of sixpence
per ounce upon silver. In 1784 there was an additional duty of sixpence
imposed. In 1804 the duty was increased to one shilling and sixpence
per ounce, and it is interesting to note that in 1815 by 55 George III,
cap. 185 the counterfeiting of the King's head duty mark was made a
felony punishable by death. Nor did the invention, although coming at
a ripe moment when economies were desirable, seem likely to receive
financial support; for the establishment of an industry on a great
basis, for the very same motives which necessitated economy, prevented
capital from being embarked on what might have been a hazardous
enterprise. At that time the country was in a disturbed condition. In
1742 Walpole's administration came to an end. His fall was occasioned
by his foreign policy, which was based on friendship with France. He
was succeeded by Carteret. His "Drunken Administration," as it was
termed, was not likely to instil confidence in the country. He cared
solely for foreign politics. "What is it to me," he said, "who is
judge, or who is bishop. It is my business to make kings and emperors
and to maintain the balance of Europe." In 1744 France declared war
against England, and preparations for war were made in America and
India. In 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender,
landed in Scotland, was given a public banquet by the ladies of
Edinburgh, defeated Sir John Cope at Prestonpans, and marched across
the border and through England as far as Derby. His troops must have
passed through Sheffield, and with civil war in the heart of the
country, and at his threshold, Boulsover no doubt quietly pursued his
vocation and added to his experiments. He made snuff boxes and buttons,
and patch boxes, and possibly buckles, and waited for a better day.
It is interesting to notice the inauguration of our two great china
factories about this date. Derby was not likely to commence a new
industry with the Pretender rattling his sabre in the city in 1745.
But we find Worcester commencing operations in 1751, followed by
Derby in 1756. There is stated to have been a political significance
in the advent of the former. It appears that in the cathedral city
in spite of its loyalty to the reigning house there was a growing
Jacobite influence. It was thought that the establishment of a factory
would enable the Whigs to win the election contests which had gone
to the Jacobite party. But we do not remember to have heard any such
association with Sheffield in regard to the establishment of the
Sheffield plating industry. It seems to have been purely a trade
venture and supported by local influence and capital.
It is not generally known that for a long period Sheffield has made
use of Swedish iron for the manufacture of the best steel. Nor is it
public property that "Made in Sheffield" frequently meant that razors,
knives, surgical instruments, scissors, etc., were made at Solingen in
Germany, and sent as "blanks" to be finished in Sheffield. The Master
Cutlers of Sheffield cannot have been aware of these happenings. We
speak of pre-war days when we have seen at Solingen much that should
shame Sheffield.
In the early knife handles illustrated (p. 51) the sheet is very thin,
and the design is stamped and both halves of the handle soldered
together. The thin pointed steel blade is characteristic of old
examples. It had not yet arrived to the stage of the trade mark with
name of firm "made in Sheffield." There is a fault in design. The
object of ornament is to be seen and admired. When these knives were
set on a table, the head of Shakespeare in the medallion was upside
down. This is a small detail, but details such as these were carefully
studied at Sheffield at a later date and ornament used to its fullest
capacity.
In regard to the particular design of the head of Shakespeare. There
is a reason for its existence. It comes straight from the days of
the great Shakesperian revival by David Garrick, where in 1741 he
acted Richard III for the first time. Quin and Cibber were outshone
by this new actor, who drew the fashionable world of St. James's to
his little house in Goodman's Fields. He became an idol. In 1742 with
Mrs. Woffington he acted in Dublin for a season and created a
great sensation. In 1747 he was joint lessee of Drury Lane Theatre.
A Chelsea figure represents him as Richard III and, in complement to
the new worship of Shakespeare who had been forgotten for a hundred
years. Addison had omitted him from his "Account of the greatest
English poets," and Steele did not include him in his essay "A Dream
of Parnassus" in the _Spectator_. Sheffield, quick to seize an idea of
marketable value, stamped the little medallion of Shakespeare on her
knife handle with an eye to fashionable demands of the day.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD KNIVES.
With steel blades and plated handles with medallion of Shakespeare.]
[Illustration:
OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED BUTTONS. OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED WINE LABEL.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
Buttons were also a strong feature in early days, and continued as a
leading feature to the end of the Sheffield plated period. Firms were
established in London who carried on this branch till quite a late
date. It is stated that a plated button was the first article made
by Boulsover. In Ireland John Roche, of Usher's Quay, Dublin, also
produced buttons in this style. The designs were stamped according to
order. The illustration (p. 51) shows the type with copper shank firmly
soldered on to the back. Possibly Army buttons of the same date were
similarly made. Collectors have a field here for search and research.
Wine labels, or as they were termed, "bottle tickets," offer, if not
great variety of style of decoration, certain curious indications as
to the wines and liqueurs they were intended to label. We illustrate a
label used for "Madeira." But some of the others were for wines either
now known under more familiar names or forgotten altogether, such as:
"Shrub," "Bucellas," "Xerez," and others.
The patch boxes (illustrated, p. 55) show the type of work executed
in the early days. The plating was carried out on the exterior; the
interior of these examples is bare copper. The left-hand example
shows in its ornament the swirls and curves of the rococo style
which Chippendale adapted and spiritualized in its translation. The
right-hand specimen owes something to Dutch influence and to tobacco
boxes which were common at the period. It is a genre subject, with the
figure of a man standing and a lady reclining on a sofa. The middle
patch box is in tortoiseshell and silver, and represents the fable of
the Fox and the Crane. The sides and base of this box are plated, and,
as in the case of the others, the interior is copper.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED PATCH BOXES.
1. Rococo design with floral ornament. Interior of box copper.
2. Tortoiseshell, inlaid with silver. Fable subject: Fox and Crane.
3. Rococo border, with figures of man and woman. Interior of box
copper.]
[Illustration: DETAIL OF ABOVE.
(_In the collection of B. B. Harrison, Esq._)]
=A World of Knick-knacks.=--The world of London and Bath had set
the fashion in trinkets, as much affected by the masculine sex as by
ladies of fashion. Buckles, clasps, etuis, snuff boxes were made in
gold or silver gilt. But one Christopher Pinchbeck, who died in 1732,
a "Clock and Watchmaker and Toyman," as he terms himself on his trade
card with his engraved portrait, became a specialist in reproductions
and replicas. It is of interest to quote the advertisement of the son
of Pinchbeck in the _Daily Post_, November 17, 1732, as showing what
articles he made of a metal in imitation of gold, and with this as
a parallel it will be possible to draw a conclusion as to the class
of articles of a similar character which were made at Sheffield at a
slightly later period:
"To prevent for the future the gross Imposition that is daily put upon
the public by a great Number of Shopkeepers, Hawkers, and Pedlars,
in and about this town, Notice is hereby given that the ingenious
Mr. Edward Pinchbeck, at the Musical Clock in Fleet Street, does not
dispose of one grain of his curious metal, which so nearly resembles
Gold in Colour, Smell, and Ductility, to any person whatsoever; nor
are the Toys made of the said Metal sold by any one person in England
except himself: therefore Gentlemen are desired to beware of Impostors,
who frequent Coffee Houses, and expose to sale Toys pretended to be
made of this Metal, which is a most notorious Imposition upon the
Publick. And Gentlemen and Ladies may be accommodated by the said Mr.
Pinchbeck with the following curious Toys, viz. Sword-Hilts, Hangers,
Cane-Heads, Whip-Handles for Hunting, Spurs, Equipages, Watch Chains,
Coat Buttons, Shirt Buttons, Knives and Forks, Spoons, Salvers,
Tweezers for Men and Women, Snuff Boxes, Buckles for Ladies' Breasts,
Stock Buckles, Shoe Buckles, Knee Buckles, Girdle Buckles, Stock
Clasps, Necklaces, Corrals." The advertisement goes on to enumerate
"Watches and Astronomical Clocks, which newly invented Machines are
artfully contrived as to perform on several Instruments great variety
of fine Pieces of Musick composed by the most celebrated Masters, with
that Exactitude, and in so beautiful a manner that scarce any hand can
equal them. They likewise imitate the sweet Harmony of Birds to so
great a Perfection as not to be distinguished from Nature itself."
Pinchbeck articles are now collected. They display fine workmanship and
artistic decoration, and true to the asservation of the inventor they
have kept their colour in a wonderful manner.
=The Sheffield Silver Plating Process.=--It has been already shown
that the superimposition of silver and gold on baser metals was not
an unknown thing, and that many old statutes exist to prevent such
wares being substituted for solid gold and silver plate. These earlier
processes mainly depended on washing or laying on successive sheets or
foils. The Boulsover process consisted in cutting off from a solid bar
of copper a rectangular piece some three inches wide, twelve inches
long, and about one inch in thickness. This was pure soft copper and
easy to work. Later an alloy was made with the addition of a sixth part
of brass making the base or body harder. One side of this copper block
is carefully filed, extreme cleanliness being employed to exclude any
dirt from the surface. A silver sheet of slightly lesser dimensions,
after being made thoroughly flat and kept perfectly clean on one side,
is laid on the copper with the two prepared surfaces fitting upon each
other. The silver was about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Over the
silver is laid a piece of sheet iron the exact size of the silver. The
three sheets are then tightly bound together by means of iron wire.
The whole is then put into a furnace until it is red hot; at the exact
moment when it is considered by the skilled workmen that the two metals
had properly fused together the block was carefully taken from the
furnace and put aside for cooling. It is obvious that if the workmen
were careless and did not by constant practice know the correct length
of time to allow the operation to continue in the furnace the result
would have been a failure. The silver, instead of exactly fusing with
the copper, would run over the edges and leave patches where the two
metals had not properly adhered. It is the same in old processes such
as the tempering of a sword. There are no exact rules, the craftsman
must have a sure eye and be quick to act at a second's notice.
Those who have witnessed the cabinet-maker in the exactitude with which
he commands his mastery over glueing parts, as is experienced in the
manufacture of air-craft parts, know that given perfect conditions
of temperature and glue of indubitable character the parts cannot be
separated. Similarly in the Sheffield plating the silver adhered to the
copper base and remained a component part and not a layer likely to be
disturbed by future bending or hammering.
The next stage in the process was the process of passing these blocks
under steel rollers in the rolling mills. And during this operation
it underwent several further stages of heating or annealing. Here
again the workman has to ascertain to a nicety the exact moment
to discontinue the firing, otherwise all would be ruined and the
silver be burnt off the face of the copper. In glass blowing similar
technical difficulties render the art one of great rapidity and quick
judgment. At the last stage, by an act of misjudgment, all the previous
work might be wasted and the piece turn out a wreck. The fire is a
capricious agent. In pottery it is the same. Many a vase after being
elaborately painted by the artist and fired in the ovens, owing to some
accident, comes out a distorted and misshapen mass.
The result of this Sheffield plating was to produce a sheet which could
be manipulated in the same manner as though it were solid silver. The
interiors of vessels, it is true, showed the copper, but these were
tinned till at a later date silver was placed on both sides of the
copper and fused at the same operation in the furnace. In regard to
the ornament a good deal found on old Sheffield plated ware was made
by the use of dies, such as feet, handles, knobs, and were cast in two
halves and soldered together prior to being affixed in their positions
on the articles. In other forms of decoration similar to that found
on the silver plate of the day the same technique was employed in the
_repoussé_ work in producing a raised design on the exterior, that is,
by means of hammering against a sand-bag, using a tool on the inside
of the vessel. Chasing and engraving is done on the outside while the
vessel is filled with sand or with some other composition.
This technique is not confined to Sheffield plated articles; it is
the technique of the silversmith, where _repoussé_ work receives its
striking force by a tiny hammer from within the vessel; chasing with
sunk lines, and elaboration and finishing the _repoussé_ design, is
done from the exterior.
In regard to designs, the productions duplicate some of the
finest plate. At its best Sheffield plate realized its artistic
responsibilities. It did not disseminate shoddy imitations of English
plate. Its copies had the saving grace of being executed by men who
understood the value of the originals. They worked faithfully in a more
economic medium, but they did not debase the original design, and they
were too clever to add meretricious touches of their own and mar work
which they must have loved or they could not have copied it so truly.
=Joseph Hancock of Sheffield.=--Thomas Boulsover claims our
regard for his invention and his steady application to it on a minor
plane. But Joseph Hancock took longer views. He was a member of the
Corporation of Cutlers in Sheffield, and he it was who saw to what
great uses the new invention could be put if handled on a great scale.
He made candlesticks, teapots, salvers, and many other more important
articles, and by so doing he raised the process above the snuff-box and
button level and established commercially the great industry for which
Sheffield has become famous.
Mills were erected for rolling out the ingots, skilled workmen were
procured who had served their apprenticeship as silversmiths in
London and elsewhere. Sheffield, almost concurrently with the great
impetus given to the making of plated silver ware, began to make
silver plate. But such solid silver had to be conveyed to London to
receive the marks of the Goldsmiths Company of London to denote its
standard quality. In regard to embarking on so novel an enterprise as
raising a great industry founded on the designs of the silversmiths,
there must have been many forebodings as to legal possibilities. The
laws on the subject were very stringent. Persons had been fined and
imprisoned in the reign of George II for manufacturing plate of lower
value than the standard. In 1741 one Drew Drury of London stated that
he was inadvertently concerned in making a stamp resembling the "Lion
Passant," that he had never made any use of it, and that he had caused
it to be broken. The Wardens of the Goldsmiths Company did not accept
his confession and proceeded against him.
Among exceptions not required to be assayed were metal spouts to
china, stone or earthenware teapots and shirt buckles or brooches. But
silver shoe-clasps, patch boxes, salt shovels, tea strainers, caddy
spoons, bottle tickets (wine labels), and all buckles except the above
mentioned were, if silver, to be assayed.
It is remarkable to find the Sheffield silver platers somewhat
incautiously flying in the face of the protective legislation in
regard to silver plate and its marking. In fact, it appears that
they recklessly placed three marks on some of the earlier ware
resembling those on silver plate. In 1773 a Committee of the House of
Commons was appointed to inquire into the manner of conducting the
several assay offices in London, York, Exeter, Chester, Norwich, and
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. York, Exeter, and Norwich, it was found, were
not in operation and had closed down. In regard to evidence a Mr.
W. Hancock, a silversmith of Sheffield, said that his work had been
injured by scraping. He went to the Goldsmiths Hall of London and
"gave some drink to the Assay Master and scraper, since which time his
plate had been less damaged." Mr. Spilsbury said that scrapers had the
opportunity to deliver to the assayer better silver than they scrape
from the work, and that the assayer had the opportunity of favouring
what silversmith he pleased. When his plate had been objected to he
found that these difficulties were removed on "giving drink at the
Hall." This may be said to have been in keeping with the old tradition
of the Goldsmiths Company of London, for we read that in 1359 one of
the members of the Fellowship was found guilty of _mals outrages_. He
prayed the mercy of the Company and offered them ten tuns of wine. He
was duly forgiven on paying for a pipe of wine and twelve pence a week
for one year to a poor man of the Company.
The Committee in their Report found in regard to Sheffield and
probably Birmingham that "the artificers are now arrived at so great a
perfection in plating with silver the goods made of base metal, that
they very much resemble solid silver, and that if the practice which
has been introduced of putting marks upon them somewhat resembling
those used at the assay offices shall not be restrained, many frauds
and impositions may be committed upon the public."
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED CANDLESTICK.
Designed in Adam style, 1775. From copper-plate engraving in old
catalogue issued by Sheffield makers to the Continental markets.
(_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._)
(_Reproduced by permission of the Board of Education._)]
The result was to draw the teeth of the platers by appointing assay
offices at Sheffield and Birmingham. The penalties laid down in the
Act of 1773 put an end to silver plate being marked. In 1784 another
Act was passed, 24 George III, cap. 20, which had some interesting
stipulations concerning silver plated ware. "Whereas doubts have
arisen whether a Manufacturer of Goods plated with Silver can make or
strike his Name upon such Goods without incurring the said Penalty
(one hundred pounds): and by reason of such Doubts the Manufacturers
of Goods plated with Silver have been deterred from striking their
Names upon plated Goods, whereby a proper Distinction betwixt plated
Goods of the different Manufacturers is prevented, and all Emulation
in that Branch of Business is destroyed: to the certain and manifest
Prejudice of the said Manufactory. For obviating such Doubts be it
further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that it shall be lawful
for any Manufacturer of Goods plated with Silver within the said town
of Sheffield, or within One Hundred Miles thereof, to strike or cause
to be struck upon any Metal Vessel or Thing plated or covered with
Silver, his or her Surname, or, in case of any Partnership the name of
the Firm of such Partnership, and also some Mark, Figure, or Device,
to be struck at the end of such Surname, or other Name of Firm: such
Mark, Figure or Device not being the same or in Imitation of any
Mark made use of by any Assay Office established by Law for assaying
wrought Plate, without being subjected to any Penalty or Forfeiture
for so doing; any Thing in the said Act to the contrary hereof
notwithstanding."
A later clause lays it down that "it shall be Provided that every such
Surname or Name or Firm as aforesaid, shall be in plain and legible
characters, and struck with one Punch only."
The clause "within one hundred miles of Sheffield" included Birmingham,
which gave a control to Sheffield; but the severe rules as to stamps
being the surname or name of the firm made the marking of Sheffield
plated articles a cumbrous business and not much to the liking of the
silver platers, although it must be regarded as a compliment that they
were legally compelled to mark their ware so carefully, apparently for
no other reason than that its resemblance to silver plate was so strong
that it might be mistaken for the sterling article.
=The Rise of the Birmingham and Other Silver Platers.=--What
Joseph Hancock did for Sheffield Matthew Boulton did for Birmingham.
Prior to 1773 the mark used consisted of three stamps with two crowns
and the letters B&F (Boulton and Fothergill); in 1784 the mark was two
suns struck in duplicate and was registered as M. Boulton and Co. at
the Sheffield Assay Office in accordance with the Act of 1784.
The 1773 Act (13 George III, cap. 52) made no provision for the
Sheffield and Birmingham platers, but gave powers to the Sheffield
and Birmingham Assay Offices. Certain portions of this were repealed,
and provision made for the marking of plated ware. But this revision
only applied to Sheffield and for some reason Birmingham was omitted,
therefore the Birmingham platers, although silver could be assayed at
Birmingham, had to put themselves under the ægis of the Sheffield Assay
Office. Hence we find Boulton & Co. registering at Sheffield.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED CANDLESTICK.
From copper-plate engraving issued by eighteenth-century Sheffield
plate makers to the Continental markets. Date 1795.
(_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._)
(_Reproduced by permission of the Board of Education._)]
At Nottingham the silver plating industry was established, and in
London it obtained so great a stronghold that although it was born
in Sheffield it died in London, as the craftsmen, although they found
themselves somewhat moribund and a gradually dwindling body, owing to
the newest invention from Sheffield--plating by electro-process--held
on until some years after the new invention had extinguished the older
styles elsewhere, but in the end silver plating by fusion and rolled
plate work succumbed.
In regard to Ireland there is some evidence that an attempt was made to
manufacture silver plate by fusion and rolling in the Sheffield manner.
But very little fused plated ware was actually made in Dublin. Certain
premiums were offered by the Irish government for "light plate" made in
that country. Light plate evidently being understood to be plated ware.
There are numerous notices and advertisements in Irish newspapers from
about 1760 onwards announcing imports of Sheffield plated goods. There
is no doubt that a considerable amount of Sheffield plated ware was
imported into Ireland. The records of one firm show that between 1784
and 1804 plated articles to the value of £60,000 were exported from
Sheffield to Ireland. Although the Dublin directories of the period
show many names of Irish "silver platers," this is not evidence enough
to establish the fact that any of these craftsmen worked in rolled
plate; there is every likelihood that they plated small articles in the
old manner and later, after the early years of the nineteenth century,
with the process known as "close plating." The name "Sly. Dublin"
appears on a steel meat skewer plated with silver belonging to these
latter days. There is, too, the possibility that some of the Sheffield
platers actually exported rolled plate in sheets, though there is no
direct evidence of this, as it would have been somewhat suicidal to
place in the hands of other artificers the material to convert into
what would have been practically Sheffield plated ware although made
elsewhere.
But there is confirmation, although somewhat meagre, that plating by
fusion was accomplished at Dublin, though apparently only practised to
a small extent.
In 1779 the Goldsmiths Company of Dublin complained of the great amount
of plated goods imported, and in 1783 the Dublin Society offered a
premium of £150, being at the rate of 6 per cent. on value of Irish
plate and light plated goods manufactured in Ireland, by rollers,
between 1782-3 and 1783-4.
The records show that on November 25, 1784, the sum of £24 7s. was
awarded to Christopher Haynes, goldsmith, of Dublin, being at the rate
of 6 per cent. on the value of light plate goods entirely manufactured
by him in Ireland _by rollers_, from 1st July, 1783, to 1st July,
1784; value £405 17s. 3d. It is further noted that a premium of £11
17s. 4d. was paid to John Lloyd, goldsmith, of Harolds Cross, Dublin,
being 6 per cent. on value of light plated goods manufactured by
him in Ireland _by rollers_, value £197 3s. 3d.; and also premium of
£2 2s. 11d. being 6 per cent. on value of plated goods manufactured
by him in Ireland _by rollers_, value £35 10s. In 1792 "A Company of
Manufacturers" in Abbey Street, Dublin, advertise plated metal for
Button Makers at 4s. 4d. per pound.
=The Great Period of Silver Plating.=--Contemporary with the
growth of Sheffield plating were influences which were very stimulating
in regard to the fine and the applied arts. The quarter of a century
from 1765 to 1790 teems with rich inventiveness on every hand. In 1768
Sir Joshua Reynolds became the first President of the Royal Academy,
and he died in 1792. His brilliant canvases, with their Titian colours,
and his children as graceful as those of Correggio, brought noonday
into English art. Thomas Chippendale's _Director_ was published in
1754, and the translations of great French styles acclimatized in
this country. Horace Walpole built Strawberry Hill in 1750. In 1793
Sheraton's _Cabinet Maker's and Upholsterer's Drawing Book_ appeared.
Between these points a great influx of ornament and design burst upon
the country. Flaxman was holding a mirror to the classic graces and
Wedgwood was translating them into clay. Brothers Adam classicized
certain parts of London. The Adelphi is typical. David Garrick lived
in the Adelphi Terrace; Antonio Zucchi painted his drawing-room
ceiling, and a white marble mantelpiece chimney piece cost three
hundred pounds. Great engravers were working in mezzotint and in
line: stipple engravers under Bartolozzi's influence produced gems of
English art printed in colours. A great outburst of work of permanent
artistic quality stamps the period. Nor were the silversmiths behind in
perpetuating glorious designs. Here then was the fine field in which
the Sheffield platers could browse for inspiration. Their results
justify their existence.
How great the industry became is reflected by the series of Design
Books issued showing the patterns that Sheffield was able during a
period of training of less than twenty years to send to the Continent
and that, be it noted, in the days of _Louis Seize_. The illustrations
of Candlesticks from these Design Books illustrated (pp. 65, 69, 75),
are described in detail in Chapter III in relation to their technique
and artistic features (pp. 86, 89).
=Contemporary Silversmiths and Their Art.=--For ten years of the
reign of George II, and from 1760 to for thirty years of the reign
of George III, English plate is remarkable for simple and practical
designs embracing the exuberant ornament from the hand of Paul Lamerie
and imbued with the classic spirit of Robert Adam. Its variety is a
noticeable characteristic, and silver plated replicas carry on the
tradition until the second or decadent period when cumbersome and
unwieldy design overloaded ornament, and finicking details choked the
fine inspirations that had come down from the past.
[Illustration: OLD SHEFFIELD PLATED CANDLESTICKS.
From old Pattern Book issued by R. C. & Co. (Robert Cadman & Co.) about
1797. The prices of the above examples (written in ink) are given at
20s. and 45s. per pair.
(_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._)
(_Reproduced by permission of the Board of Education._)]
The cherubs' heads, the satyrs, the lion-masks, and the engraved and
pierced work of Paul Lamerie extended from 1742. Thomas Gilpin was
noted for his fine scrollwork; Peter Taylor has fine designs embodied
in tea caddies engraved with Chinese figures and embellished with
shell ornament. Isaac Duke with his sauce boats with handles formed
as dragons and rich chasing and ornament holds high reputation. John
Cafe, Edward Wakelin, John Swift and George Wickes all were of the
middle eighteenth century and are well known. Daniells, William Shaw in
1785, Orlando Jackson and James Wilkes carried on the traditions. Peter
Archambo, who worked a decade or two previously, had left a technique.
The designs of Elston of Exeter are still honoured. At Dublin, R.
Calderwood in 1750 and William Homer, of Dublin, and John Williams,
of Cork, twenty years later were producing masterpieces of delicate
artistry. And before the decadence came William Plummer and Paul Storr.
It was therefore with no misgiving as to choice of rare design that
the Sheffield plate workers set out to immortalize the work of these
men with no less courage than did McArdell and the great school of
mezzotinters in regard to the canvases of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
III
CANDELABRA AND CANDLESTICKS
EARLY TYPES
THE ADAM STYLE AND ITS PROMULGATION TO THE CONTINENT
THE CANDELABRUM
THE VARIETIES OF THE SPIRAL FORM
THE TRI-FORM CANDELABRUM
THE CHAMBER CANDLESTICK
THE EVOLUTION OF THE TABLE CANDLESTICK