Mastery of Design: A French Gold and Diamond "Aide-Mémoire," 19th C.

Notebook
French, Nineteenth Century
The Hull-Grundy Gift to
The British Museum

Known as an "aide-mémoire", this notebook with hinged covers of blue enamel on a guilloche ground is decorated with applied four-color gold trophies of gardening implements on one side and doves, and bows and arrows on the other. 

Each trophy is entwined with a gold ribbon and an inscription in rose diamonds set in silver.

The piece is clasped with a sliding gold pencil.  The interior sports three ivory leaves, each containing writing in French from its original Nineteenth Century owner.  

Unusual Artifacts: A Pair of Men's Stockings, 1660-70

Linen Stockings for Men, 1660-1670
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Before the art of knitting became prevalent in England, in the Fifteenth Century, all hosiery products were made from woven fabrics--either linen or wool. However, even though by the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, knitted stockings were the most popular and convenient form of hose, but cut linen versions like the example that we see here were continued to be worn.

These linen stockings have been cut to follow the shape of the leg as closely as possible.  This was by design, to prevent sagging. Embroidered edgings in green silk jazz up the pair, giving a gentleman a chance to be a little jaunty.

These were made in England between 1660 and 1670.  

Print of the Day: Mr. Punch's Fancy Ball, 1844

Click image to enlarge.

Mr. Punch's Fancy Ball
Unknown Origins, 1844
The British Museum

The oversized comic scene shows traditional Punchinello characters gathered for a fancy ball and dance. The engraving is printed on two folding sheets and dates to 1844. We’re not sure who produced this wood engraving. Though the title is printed along the bottom, there’s no mention of artist, engraver or publisher. Even the date is not printed, but rather was added later in pencil.

Painting of the Day: A Design for an Inn Sign, 1700

Design for a Sign for The Crown Inn
1700
The Victoria & Albert Museum

While, these days, we associate the look of a hanging sign with public houses (pubs), in the Eighteenth Century, in Britain, most businesses displayed them as a means of alerting customers to their location. The signs were designed with few, or often no, words and relied on colorful graphics and images which would have been easily comprehended by the public at large, most of whom could not read.


Not known for their subtlety, these signs left no question as to the name of the establishment. We can deduce that this design was intended to advertise The Crown Inn. This sketch shows a proposed look for the sig and includes preliminary pencil sketches of three different crowns, one of which is placed upon a cushion.


The sheet has also been “squared up” to ensure that the design could easily be reproduced on the larger wooden signboard.

This drawing is one of 35 further designs by the same anonymous hand which have been collected by the V&A. It was completed in oil, bodycolor and pencil on paper and shows a gold crown with fleur-de-lys, gems, ermine and red velvet. It was finished in London around 1750.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: Cruikshank's "Punch and the Cat," 19th C.

Engraving depicting "Punch and the Cat"
George Cruikshank
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Some of the earliest, most accurate and famous drawings we have of the Nineteenth Century Punch & Judy shows in Britain are those created by the celebrated illustrator George Cruikshank (1792-1878).

Here, we see an engraving after one of Cruikshank’s renowned drawings.  The print crisply depicts not only the Punch & Judy performance, but also, the audience.  Here, we see Punch and the Cat in a booth in the upper center. Some Punch & Judy Professors in the Nineteenth Century used a cat in lieu of the Dog Toby.  At the time, many Punch & Judy men still employed real animals as Punch’s companion as opposed to puppet counterparts.  If a dog was unavailable, Mr. Punch was joined by a cat. 

This trimmed piece of paper has, on the reverse, part of a music score entitled “The Magistrate.” “Old G. Cruickshank” is inscribed in pencil on the upper left center.

Drawing of the Day: Punchinello with Dumpling or Fritter, c. 1796-1770

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this drawing of pen and brown ink has been accented with a sepia wash.  Beneath this, traces of the original sketch of pencil and black chalk can be seen.  

Dating to about 1796-1770, this is the work of a member of  the Circle of famed Italian artist  Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696–1770 Madrid).  Entitled "Punchinello with Dumpling or Fritter."  I think that's a lovely idea.

Tiepolo and his followers often depicted Punchinello in various situations, often showing multiple Punchinellos or whole families of them at a time.

Ephemeral Beauty: The Mollie Knitting Machine

In the Nineteenth Century, evenings were spent reading, engaged in conversation, playing games, enjoying artistic pursuits, and strapping your daughters into a knitting machine. Well, that’s the impression I get from this trade card.

The card was created for The Mollie Knitting Machine which claims to be “The Cheapest and Best Made.” By the was patented on August 10, 1886. The bottom tells us that we can buy this contraption somewhere in Missouri, in the past.

The chromolithograph, of course, has all the typical trademarks of such products—a happy kitten playing with a ball of yarn and…well, that’s about it. This pale-faced young lady’s cadaverous face is fixed in resolution to her fate as she, bound to her chair, is trapped within the Mollie Knitting Machine. There’s no escape for her. She knows it. So, she’ll just focus on her vaguely Arts and Crafts flower pattern and hope that, perhaps, the kitten will gnaw through the ropes which bind her into this nightmare of needlework.

$500 REWARD 

for any HAND-TUFTING MACHINE on the market at this
date (Sept. 15, 1887,) that can be worked by a child six years
old, with such precision, ease and rapidity, and making such
close solid stitches to the fabric, in working on curves, as can be
done withDeal’s • Fabric • Tufter
(Pat. Aug. 10, 1886; Improved Aug. 25, 1886.) 
AUTOMATIC STITCHER AND FEEDER. Makes Regular Stitches and Beautiful Work
          So Simple a Child can Operate it with Ease.
                    Beautiful in Finish. Perfect in Construction.
                              Durable in Use.

     Ladies delighted with it, and discarding the heavy, awk-
ward flat-handle and loose working crank-handle machines.
     Articles of handiwork – mementoes in years to come of the
loved ones of “Home, Sweet Home,” – made in a few hours
with this LATEST IMPROVED FABRIC TUFTER; such as
beautiful

TURKISH RUGS.
          OTTOMANS, QUILTS,
                    PIANO SPREADS, TIDIES,
                            STAIR CARPETS, LAP ROBES,
                                      HOODS, MITTENS,
                                              CAPS, SLIPPERS. ETC. 

     One Hundred and Fifty Stitches Easily Made in a Minute.
Works Cotton and Woolen Rags, Ravelings and Yarn. We
guarantee every Tufter to be PERFECT IN EVERY PAR-
TICULAR.      Sent by mail to any address for $1.50. Carpet Yarn in
colors at 60 cents a pound. Beautiful patterns in stock. Ad-
justable hard-wood frames, 4 ft. by 6 ft., at 40 cents. Orders
by mail promptly attended to.
     AGENTS WANTED IN EVERY TOWN. 
Address 
GEO. H. KING, MANAGER
FABRIC TUFTER CO.
26 EAST SEVENTH ST.
KANSAS CITY, MO. 


Well, thank God. Now, I can get my tidies made! I just have to let little Audra’s legs atrophy for it. This thing could do anything, it seems. Anything, I suppose, except give your daughter a healthful glow and a happy look in her eye. So, for $1.50, I can have all manner of fuzzy things in my house AND keep the female children from thriving.

Ah, but they did anyway. As you can see, one of them had the audacity to write on the card. On the front, in neat script, she wrote her name in pencil—“Lissa.” On the reverse, she wrote something which is now unreadable. I think it says, “Help me.”