Vase
Barr, Flight and Barr
Category
Ceramics
Date
1804 - 1807
Materials
Soft-paste porcelain, painted with enamel colours and gilding
Measurements
160 mm (Height); 115 mm (Diameter); 120 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Worcester
Order this imageCollection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 353348.1
Summary
Vase. One of pair of vases from a garniture de cheminee. Made by Barr, Flight and Barr, Worcester, c.1804-7. Vase with gilt rim, 2 mock loop handles and border. Decorated with landscape view of a rocky cascade on river with 2 figures in foreground by fence, wooded craggy hillside at RHS. Inscribed under base ‘View on the River Sheene near Kenmare Ireland’. Image is a copy of an aquatint by Francis Jukes (1745-1812), after a drawing of the dramatic falls by Thomas Walmsley (1763-1806), dedicated to Maurice Fitzgerald, 18th Knight of Kerry (1772-1849), and published in Views in Ireland, London 1800-1, plate 16.
Full description
Between 1775 and 1825, the English ‘garniture de cheminée’ featured not only vases and jars for cut-flowers, but also pots for growing plants and bulbous root-pots for forcing hyacinth and other bulbs in water alone. Many of the shapes were inspired by French garnitures in porcelain or ‘tôle vernis’ (painted metal). Vessels were often supplemented with covers, converting them into holders for potpourri or for burning perfumed pellets. Thus, throughout the year, they filled the drawing-room air with varied aromas. Here, the central bulb-pot has a cover with nozzles to support bulbs, their roots fed by the water below. Small holes in the cover held wooden sticks, tied to the hyacinth stems to prevent them from toppling and smashing the pot. Named Irish and Scottish topographical views on the smaller vases cater to the growing popularity of British tourism in search of the Picturesque.
Provenance
Part of the Lothian Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust by Philip, 11th Marquess of Lothian (1882-1940).
Marks and inscriptions
Underside: View on the River Sheene, near Kenmare, Ireland. Crown device. Barr, Flight & Barr, Worcester, Flight & Barr, Coventry Street, London. Manufacturers to their Majesties and Royal Family.
Makers and roles
Barr, Flight and Barr