Unusual Artifacts: The Great Exhibition Chalice, 1851

Chalice
Pugin and Hardman, 1851
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A magnificent chalice of silver, parcel gilt, set with amethysts and garnets and champleve enamel plaques, though it looks liturgical, was never used in a church. This unusual artifact was acquired from the Great Exhibition of 1851, and as was the case of all of the items there displayed, represents what was considered as the best in British design and workmanship in the mid Nineteenth Century.


At the time of its creation, the chalice cost £30, and was described as being “remarkable for the beauty of the forms and the delicacy of the ornamented portions.” This was the work of John Hardman and the famed A.W.N. Pugin.