A Victorian silver mounted Essex Crystal 'dog portrait' scent bottle Sampson Mordan & Co, London...
A Victorian silver mounted Essex Crystal 'dog portrait' scent bottle
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1883
Circular cylindrical form, the silver mounted hinged cover inset with a domed Essex crystal featuring a hand painted portrait of a brown and white dog within, opening to reveal a gilt interior and a glass stopper with serrated edge, the rest of the bottle in heavy plain glass, height 7cm, diameter 3cm.
Footnotes:
'Essex Crystal' pieces are formed from a rock crystal cabochon (polished domes of rock crystal with a flat base), whereupon an image or motif is reverse carved into the flat base and then meticulously painted. This technique gives the impression of a three dimensional object or floating image encapsulated in the cabochon, especially when viewed from above. The process of carving into the back of the cabochon is referred to as a 'reverse carved intaglio' and this process was created in the 1860s, in what is known as the 'High Victorian Era'. This was a time of increased prosperity and as a consequence there was a higher demand for jewels, eye-catching adornment and novelty items. Peter Hinks in Nineteenth Century Jewellery observes that 'a new adventurousness in the treatment of gems' was very much present in the 1860s and 70s, with reverse carved intaglios one of the most adventurous!
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A Victorian silver mounted Essex Crystal 'dog portrait' scent bottle
Sampson Mordan & Co, London 1883
Circular cylindrical form, the silver mounted hinged cover inset with a domed Essex crystal featuring a hand painted portrait of a brown and white dog within, opening to reveal a gilt interior and a glass stopper with serrated edge, the rest of the bottle in heavy plain glass, height 7cm, diameter 3cm.
Footnotes:
'Essex Crystal' pieces are formed from a rock crystal cabochon (polished domes of rock crystal with a flat base), whereupon an image or motif is reverse carved into the flat base and then meticulously painted. This technique gives the impression of a three dimensional object or floating image encapsulated in the cabochon, especially when viewed from above. The process of carving into the back of the cabochon is referred to as a 'reverse carved intaglio' and this process was created in the 1860s, in what is known as the 'High Victorian Era'. This was a time of increased prosperity and as a consequence there was a higher demand for jewels, eye-catching adornment and novelty items. Peter Hinks in Nineteenth Century Jewellery observes that 'a new adventurousness in the treatment of gems' was very much present in the 1860s and 70s, with reverse carved intaglios one of the most adventurous!
