Collections

01

Glass and Hardstone

5 objects

Things made by working a material while it is hot, or by cutting one that never was. The two sit together here because both are read the same way in the hand: against the light, for what the wall of the vessel does to it.

1. 01-01Vase with scroll handles17th–18th centuryGlass
2. 91.1.1222Vase with winged handles17th centuryGlass
3. 17.190.597Jasper vasemid-17th centuryJasper, silver gilt
4. 01-04Rock crystal ewerca. 1680 and early 19th centurySmoky rock crystal, enamel, gold, diamonds
5. 01-05Monumental malachite vase1819Russian malachite, gilt-bronze mounts, bronze pedestal

02

Silver

5 objects

Raised, cast and gilded work, dated by the marks struck into it rather than by style. A catalogue of silver is largely a catalogue of hallmarks, so the dates here are the assay dates where one exists.

1. 02-01Silver-gilt ewer with enamelca. 1600Silver gilt, enamel
2. 68.141.135Ewer1610–11Gilt silver
3. 2005.364.1a–f–.48Toilet set in its original caseca. 1743–45Gilt silver, porcelain, cut glass, walnut, gilt leather
4. 02-04Ewer1755/56Silver gilt
5. 02-05Ewerca. 1890Silver

03

Ceramics

4 objects

Clay bodies from stoneware to hard-paste porcelain. What separates them is firing temperature, and what that buys is the wall thickness a form can get away with.

1. 03-01Ewer from Burghley Houseca. 1573–85, mounts ca. 1585Hard-paste porcelain, gilded silver
2. 1993.335Vase1820–25Hard-paste porcelain
3. 03-03Vase1882–86Stoneware, clay, gilt
4. 03-04Vaseca. 1893Earthenware

04

Cabinetwork

4 objects

Veneered case furniture, most of it built around something that moves: a sliding top, a rising stand, a drawer released by a catch. The marquetry is the part that survives photography; the mechanism is the reason the piece exists.

1. 04-01Small writing deskca. 1768Oak veneered with tulipwood and amaranth, seventeen porcelain plaques
2. 04-02Jewel coffer on standca. 1770Oak veneered with tulipwood and amaranth, thirteen porcelain plaques
3. 04-03Mechanical table1778Oak veneered with marquetry, gilt-bronze mounts
4. 49.7.117Mechanical table1781Oak veneered with mahogany and marquetry, gilt-bronze mounts

05

Clockwork

4 objects

Movements and the cases built to carry them. Filed apart from cabinetwork because the case here is subordinate — the object is dated by its movement, and the case can be, and often was, replaced.

1. 1982.60.84Wall clockca. 1735–40Soft-paste porcelain case, enamel dial, brass and steel movement
2. 05-02Miniature secretary with a watchca. 1766–72Agate case with gold mounts, pearls; enamel dial
3. 05-03Pair-case quarter-repeating watchca. 1770–72Gold set with diamonds, pearls, emeralds and rubies; enamel dial
4. 1982.60.137Chariot automaton with a clock1766Gold with diamonds and pearls; enamel dial