ANTIQUE 19thC VICTORIAN ELKINGTON ELECTROTYPE MONUMENTAL KREMLIN JUG c.1880
19th Century Victorian Electrotype water jug / flagon, copy of the rare solid silver example dating to the 17th Century. The base bears the original cast stamp "Department of Science & Art, Elkington" and "VR crowned".
Reference Number: A2622
Description
Antique 19th Century unique Victorian Electrotype monumental water jug / flagon, copy of the rare solid silver example dating to the 17th Century, a most rare silver object dating to the Tudor period (please follow this link).
Electrotypes are exact copies of metal objects, electroplated. The process was invented by the firm Elkington & Co in the 1840s. Henry Cole, first director of the South Kensington Museum (today Victoria & Albert Museum) grasped the educational potential of the new technique, and agreed with Elkington to take moulds of historic objects in museums in England and around the world. For more information please follow this link to the Victoria & Albert Museum and follow this link to the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York.
The most ambitious trip, to Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1880, secured copies of over 200 items, including the exceptional one here for sale. The original of this jug is in the Kremlin, and would have formed part of an ambassadorial gift from the King of England to the Tsar of Russia.
The base bears the original cast stamp "Department of Science & Art, Elkington" and "VR crowned" (please follow this link). The hinged lid also bears hand-written numbers, most probably a Museum's serial number (possibly the Victoria & Albert Museum's serial number: by 1920 the V&A held about 1000 electrotypes, later sold to the public and other museums.
Condition
In Great Condition - no damage, just general wear.
Size
Height: 62cm
Width: 45 x 31.5cm
Weight: 7160g