Mastery of Design: Queen Victoria’s Match Holder, 1848

Match Holder
Silver, Enamel, Rubies
Froment-Meurice, 1848
The Royal Collection

At the Great Exhibition, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert where seen frequenting the exhibits of French goldsmith François-Désiré Froment-Meurice whose bejeweled masterpieces were the cause of much celebration at the Exhibition. Known for his Gothic Revival gold-work, Froment-Meurice had already made an impression on the Royal Couple several years earlier with works which were decidedly naturalistic in style.


In 1848, Victoria purchased a gem-set, enameled match holder from Froment-Meurice. The enameled case is set with rubies and silver plaques depicting mythological scenes. The whole of the piece is painted with silver volutes. The handles feature delicately molded birds of paradise which mirror the graceful lines of the figure who perches atop the globe which surmounts the cover. Though this piece is not signed, it has been attributed to Froment-Meurice for several reasons. The globe upon which the languid figure stands is surrounded by a banner depicting the signs of the zodiac. This was a hallmark of Froment-Meurice’s work. Furthermore, the birds of paradise are identical to a pair of earrings created by the artist in 1849.

Gifts of Grandeur: Carnet-de-Bal With Miniatures of an Unknown Lady and Gentleman

Carnet-de-Bal
Circa 1790
French
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This carnet-de-bal (case for a dance card) was made between 1790 and 1795.  Many years later, on Christmas Day of 1937, the case was given to Queen Mary by Sir Philip Sassoon.

Her Majesty cataloged the carnet case as featuring portraits of "an unknown lady and gentleman."  

The case, constructed of gray enamel over gold is mounted with chased colored gold rims and, on the front and back, oval miniature portraits in enamels, set in diamond frames adorned with birds and flowers.  Inside, the case is fitted with an ivory tablet and pencil upon which a lady could write the order of the men with whom she would dance that night.

The gentleman can be identified vaguely as a Knight of St Louis.  In this bust-length portrait, he is facing forward and wearing a short gray wig, the blue uniform of his order with a breast-plate and the badge of the military Order of St Louis.

On the other side, the portrait of a lady presents her, also bust-length, facing forward.  She is wearing a pale blue dress with a large white bow.  Her powdered hair is tied with a blue ribbon.

We can deduce that the carnet case was made in France as The Order of St Louis was instituted by Louis XIV in 1693 as a means of rewarding officers distinguished either in military action or for long service. The style of the case and painting and the dress of the figures in the portraits suggest a date of the early 1790s.

Carnet-de-Bal
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Painting of the Day: A Wreath of Fruit with Birds Suspended by a Cord, Eighteenth Century

Wreath of Fruit with Birds Suspended by A Cord
Unknown Artist after Frans Snyders
Eighteenth Century
One of a Pair
The Victoria & Albert Museum

When a collector spotted a painting that he liked in a museum or the home of an associate, in the Eighteenth Century, he couldn’t very well take a photo of it. If he wanted to have a copy of th painting, he had to commission it and the work would be carried out by another painter. For this reason, every so often, we’ll come across a copy of a painting which dates to around the same period of the creation of the original work. Similarly, paintings were copied by students—either of the original artist or another—as a means of perfecting their own techniques.

Here, we have such a copy. This subtle still life is a partial late Eighteenth Century copy after a large composition by Frans Snyders-- The Infant Jesus with St John the Baptist and Putti with Flowers and Fruit Garlands. In this scene of a wreath of fruits with birds flitting around, the painting depicts a variety of fruits including cherries, strawberries, apples, grapes and pomegranates. In the original painting, this wreath constitutes the upper part of the composition—essentially adornment above the figures of Jesus and John. For some reason the artist duplicated the upper part of the canvas as its own work and then reproduced the original’s festoons of vegetables as another canvas

The original artist, Frans Snyders (1579-1657) was born in Antwerp, where he studied under Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1565-1637) and Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632). Snyders soon became a member of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke in 1602, and, later travelled in Italy from 1608 to 1609. His specialty, clearly, was still-lifes, but he also enjoyed painting animals. He is credited for creating a new form of still life: the animal still life.  Lots and lots of dead rabbits and birds with rotting fruit...

Snyders notably collaborated with a number of celebrated artists: Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Cornelis de Vos (ca.1584-1651), Abraham Janssen (ca.1575-1632), Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), Jan Boeckhorst (1605-1668) and Willeboirts Bosschaert (1614-1654) to name a few. 

Her Majesty's Furniture: The Bainbridge Firescreen, 1850

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This firescreen rests on trestle supports with turned and gilded uprights.  The frame is panel glazed and set with stuffed birds.  This unusual, yet handsome, piece comes from Great Britain and was made circa 1850.  

This is so very Victorian in design.  This was an era when taxidermy birds and animals were considered fashionable and appropriate accessories employed in a variety of uses.  Victorian artists were fascinated with nature and the culture as a whole was intrigued with the idea of exploring the natural world.  

Of course, as new animals were discovered, these same explorers were determined to find uses for their beautiful fur and plumage—not thinking that entire species would die out.  In one way, this use of animals is tragic, and, yet, we are somewhat fortunate in that many extinct species are still viewable because they’ve been preserved in works of art such as this.  

Many fire screens were employed to keep the direct heat of the fire off of those seated near the hearth.  This fire screen would not have been good for that. Taxidermy and fire don’t mix.  Instead, this would have made a handsome showpiece in the summer, hiding an empty, unused hearth.   

The Art of Play: German Toy Birds, 1850-1910

German Toy Birds
1850-1910
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made in Germany, this pair of toy birds could date anywhere between 1850 and 1910. This is one of a group of German traditional toys which is housed in the V&A’s Museum of Childhood. Some of the group were made in the mid Nineteenth Century while others were made in the 1900s based on earlier designs.

At each end of the crosspiece, a hummingbird figure is mounted with a leather bellows. When the upright piece is moved from side to side, the bellows are engaged and produce a whistling sound.

A Mystery In Paint: Pieter de Hooch’s “Dead Bird” Still Life

A Man with Dead Birds and Other Figures
Pieter de Hooch and others, 1655, 1825
National Gallery, London

Pieter de Hooch, the well-known Seventeenth Century Dutch painter, was celebrated for his genre paintings of stable scenes and his limited, but rich, color palette. At first glance, this 1655 de Hooch painting entitled A Man with Dead Birds and Other Figureswas a considerable source of mystery for art historians. The scene, for the most part, was pure de Hooch, however, the still life of colorful birds and a spaniel in the lower right quadrant seemed conspicuously out of place. When the painting found a home in London’s National Gallery, scientists and historians joined forces to solve a centuries-old mystery.


X-ray images showed that beneath the painting of the pile of dead birds and the spaniel, was the figure of a reclining man. The man was clearly in pain as he seemed to be struggling to support his weight. The figure now seen plucking feathers from a bird, originally had been painted with his hand on the reclining man’s knee. Digging into historical documents, a recording of a painting by de Hooch was found which described a work of a wounded man being attended to in a stable. That work was not accounted for. Most certainly, it was the piece in the National Gallery, the painting which had been over-painted with the still life of birds.

X-Ray Image of de Hooch's PaintingThe National Gallery, London

Why had this happened? Who had made the alterations? Records indicated that a painting of a wounded man in a stable was sold to someone named Regemorter in 1825. In 1900, the painting entitledA Man with Dead Birds and Other Figures was sold from the same collection. Now aware that these two paintings were one-in-the-same, historians concluded that sometime during that seventy-five year period, the piece had been altered. Regemorter was most likely the painter and art dealer Ignatius Van Regemorter. Ignatius’ father was also a painter and art dealer known for altering paintings of great Dutch masters to make them more “saleable” in the market of the time. Was this the answer?

We’ll never know for certain. However, all the evidence seems to support the theory that the Van Regermorters had, once again, changed a work of art for commercial purposes. The brightly painted birds are reminiscent of Ignatius Van Regemorter’s other works.

Does the change effect the importance and value of the work? No. While we would most likely have preferred to see the work as de Hooch originally intended, the interference of the over-painter only makes the piece more interesting and certainly gives an element to its provenance that is, at the very least, intriguing.

Object of the Day: A Card by Raphael Tuck & Sons

Click Parrot for a Larger Size.

Let's get going with a collectible card from the early Twentieth Century (from the reign of Kind Edward VII). I won’t call this bit of Edwardian fun a “trade card” per se since it’s not actually advertising for anything. It’s the sort of chromolithograph that one would collect and paste into an album. Very often, publishers would produce series of these cards (sort of like cigarette cards, only larger) which were not only attractive, but served to inform the public about animals, birds, flowers, plants, history, science, etc. This one tells us all about parrots.

When I received the lot of trade cards which contained this card, I took it out and showed it to Bertie and said, “Look, Bertie, it’s a parrot.” We like our birds here at Bertie’s house. Regular readers know that I’ve several doves living on my porches (I just got a whole new crop, it seems, over the weekend). So, Bertie’s familiar with birds and knows, now, not to eat them alive. Showing him the card seemed, to me, a natural thing to do. But, afterwards, I laughed at myself for doing so. But, then, that weekend, when I brought the cards to my parents’ house to show them, my mother singled this one out and held it up for Bertie to see. She said, “Look, Bertie, it’s a parrot.” Ahhhhh…it’s genetic. It can’t be helped.

This is a very handsome card—neatly printed in the vibrant colors which were popular in the 1880s and 90s. I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s such a fine printing job since it’s the work of Raphael Tuck & Sons—famous for their high-quality postcards. The obverse reads simply, “That Parrot.”

On the reverse, we have a lovely narrative about these colorful birds.

PARROTS. 
(Psittaciformes.)

     There are numerous varieties of this interest-
ing bird, many of them being of exceedingly
bright plumage, while they differ considerably
in size. They all inhabit hot regions and have
the peculiarity of using their claws as a hand
in which to hold their food. The pretty little
Love Bird belongs to the Parrot family. Some
varieties of Parrots, as is well, known, can be
taught to talk with a perfect imitation of the
human voice, stringing words and even sentences
together. The common Grey Parrot, a native
of Africa, is the most remarkable in this way,
and, for the clearness with which it pronounces
each word; it is at the same time a very docile
birds. The Green Parrot of South America
is also a wonderful talker. For this reason
Parrots have become favourite pets in many
Households.

RAPHAEL TUCK & SONS, Ltd.
London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Montreal
Designed in England.            Printed in Saxony. 

Publishers to Their Majesties
The King & Queen and
T.R.H. The Prince & Princess of Wales