Holiday Posting Schedule

Hello all,

Being as it's the week of Christmas, Bertie, Mr. Punch and I will be taking off some time.  In light of that, regular posting will be rather spotty.  The next chapter of A Recipe for Punch is planned for December 30, 2013.  In the meantime, you can catch up with any chapters you might have missed to date in the Chapter Archive.  It'll give you a chance to see what's going on at Fallbridge Hall and to meet Punch's Auntie Morgana.  She's a lobster gal.  

This coming week, though I won't be posting regularly, that doesn't mean I won't be entirely away from my keyboard.  You never know what I might be up to.  So, pay a visit and see what sort of holiday hijinks I can throw your way.

Joseph

Mastery of Design: An Automaton by Fabergé, circa 1900

Elephant Automaton
Carl Fabergé, circa 1900
Gold, Enamel, Silver, Ivory, Diamonds, Rubies
Presented to King George V by Queen Mary, 1929
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Here’s a peculiar and lovely little thing. When one thinks of Carl Fabergé, the mind immediately presents images of enameled and jeweled objects, and mostly, eggs. That’s, indeed, what we have here. However, it’s got the added bonus of being an automaton.


Every so often, Fabergé would sneakily slip a jeweled automaton as a surprise into one of his celebrated eggs. This one, however, came all on its own. The gold and enamel figure of an elephant features silver details, rose-cut diamonds and cabochon rubies as well as ivory inlay. Wound with a key, the elephant “walks” by means of wee silver wheels in his elephant feet. He also swings his head back and forth and raises and lowers his trunk. His articulated tail will, occasionally, spin. He’s being “ridden” by a golden rider with an ivory turban.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
via The Royal Collection Trust
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Click image to enlarge.

This gorgeous automaton was given to King George V by Queen Mary (of Teck) for Christmas, 1929. Isn’t it wonderful? The elephant was kept in a vitrine with a collection of other Fabergé animals. (The others didn’t move.) Always organized, Queen Mary kept the box in which the elephant had been delivered and placed a detailed note inside the box which contained instructions on how to operate the automaton.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
via The Royal Collection Trust
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Click image to enlarge.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
via The Royal Collection Trust
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Click image to enlarge.

Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
via The Royal Collection Trust
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Click image to enlarge.

Seasonal Silliness Continues: Happy Howl-i-days

Silent night, silly night...settle in with some Sugarplum Nightmares 
First with Hector the Dog.




And Rudolph (the Jam Handy version). Enjoy Rudolph's mom's fine legs.



And, finally, follow the bouncing hen fruit.

Her Majesty's Furniture: The Christmas Table, 1855

The Victoria & Albert Museum

This table, created in the style of Louis XVI features marquetry of tulipwood among other woods, with mounts of gilded and silvered bronze and a frieze set with a porcelain plaque

Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901) ordered this small French table as a Christmas present for her husband, Prince Albert, in 1855. The porcelain plaque on the front frieze shows their joint monogram, ‘VA’.

The gift of the table was meant as a souvenir of their state visit to the Emperor Napoleon III in France earlier in 1855, a visit which also coincided with the Exposition Universelle in Paris. This elaborate exhibition was France’s pointed response to the British success of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Queen Victoria visited the Paris exhibition three times, enjoying it immensely. However, she did not order this table until she returned to London. The table is the work of the firm of Edouard Kreisser. It was accompanied by a matching cabinet. Both the table and the cabinet were known to be at Osborne House in the late-nineteenth—located in the Small Drawing Room or Audience Room. It is not known when or how the table left the Royal Collection, but I have no doubt that Queen Mary didn’t know it was missing or she’d have found a way to get it back.

The table resurfaced in 1964 when it was known to be with the dealers of Kerrins in London. It was then purchased by Mr. George Farrow, who presented it to the V&A.

Sunday Sparkle: The Cooper Christmas Pendant, 1906

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The Cooper Christmas Pendant consists of a Madonna and Child within a jeweled niche, suspended within a circular wire frame which has been adorned with stars. The pendant is hung with an additional circular pendant and drop below, while above, a dove descends between the two chains that connect the suspension loop. The piece flickers with the colors and lights of hand-worked silver and gold with rubies, aquamarines, sapphires, opals and chrysoprases.


This is the work of John Paul Cooper whose artistry as a jeweler was celebrated at the 1906 Arts and Crafts Exhibition. Studio Magazine praised Cooper’s work for its sculptural qualities and for its originality during a period when other exhibitors' work appeared rather formulaic and staid.

The shimmer, rich colors, rounded cabochon-cut stones, plain bezels and the hand-worked silver seen here are typical of Arts and Crafts jewelry. Cooper favored figural subjects and he often worked with spiritual and symbolic themes.

Mastery of Design: Queen Mary's Jade Box, 1910

Jade and Diamond Box
England, 1910
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
via The Royal Collection Trust
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Mrs. Whitelaw Reid presented this handsome box of white jade to Queen Mary, Consort of King George V for Christmas of 1910. I’m not sure if she did it willingly or if she was gently prodded into doing so, but she did it nonetheless. 

The rectangular box of white jade with green veins features a hinged cover which has been set, at the center, with brilliant cut diamonds in a silver crown. The foliate hinge and clasp mounts, similarly set. The lower mount of the gold rim is enameled on the outside with medium blue guilloché stripe.

Sunday Morning Special: “Christmas Comes But Once a Year,” 1936

Another of the treasured “Sugar Plum Nightmares,” this Max Fleischer cartoon from 1936 features his character, “Grampy,” the nutty inventor as he tries to bring some joy to a group of orphans by creating dangerous Christmas gifts for them out of forks, cheese graters and percolating coffee pots.  Sure, they may scald themselves, cut their little fingers, swallow small parts and break their necks, but by jiminy, they’re going to have a happy Christmas thanks to Grampy and his craftiness.  And, yet, the big question I have is “why does the dog live in a cuckoo clock?”  As I’ve said before of 30’s-era cartoons, expect lots of knee-bending and bobbing up and down.  And, of course, yes, the song will stick in your head until 2015. Merry Christmas.    It's coming.