Terms and conditions of use
STEVENS & WILLIAMS, Brierley Hill, Staffordshire (manufacturer), James Benjamin HILL (designer), Joseph KELLER (attributed to) (engraver)
Decanter
(c. 1885)
Medium
glass (rock crystal)
Measurements
(a-b) 31.7 × 12.0 cm diameter (overall)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of J. A. Wallace Esq., 1939
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
This decanter and stopper are entirely engraved with fanciful imagery of East Asian motifs, including watery landscape settings, bridges, pavilions and lattice fences. Landscape scenes with architectural elements were some of the most pervasive images to reach Europe from Asia from the seventeenth century onwards. These scenes, or European imaginings stimulated by them, were soon copied in European decorative arts. During the nineteenth century, such imagery remained fashionable but was often employed alongside decorative influences from other cultures and periods. The form of this vase takes its inspiration from a Persian bottle, while the shape of the stopper references the roof of a gazebo in the so-called chinoiserie style.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, England
Accession Number
4654.a-b-D3
Department
International Decorative Arts
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited