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Lot Essay
William Burges trained as an architect and during his education at King’s College School came to know the Rossetti Brothers. He was an integral part of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. While other artists may have been constrained by lack of vision or finances, Burges was not. His interests, talent and affluence allowed him to experiment in the decorative arts. He indulged his interest in a wide range of styles, primarily the Gothic, but also Roman, Arabic, Japanese, Islamic and French.
Burges’ own home, Tower House, Melbury Road, Holland Park is ‘an extraordinary distillation of his own artistic career…more exotic than Pugin’s home at Ramsgate; more personal even than Soane’s strange house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields….The interior became the labour of half a lifetime compressed into six frenetic years’ (J. Mordaunt Crook, William Burges and the High Victorian Dream, London, 1981, p. 307). The architecture and interiors of Tower House are recorded in a selection of photographs from 1885 by F. Bedford and A. F. Kersting. An album containing these photographs is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and a selection of the same photographs entitled The House of William Burges sold, Christie’s, London, 7 November 2002, lot 5. The present lot is illustrated in the volume at the Victoria and Albert Museum (and reproduced in J. Mordaunt Crook, op. cit. pl. 245 and 243). The album shows Burges’ metalwork in situ, grouped for display on tables topped with pietra-dura and on polychrome-decorated cabinets - furniture comparable to the marvellous ‘Industry and Idleness Cabinet’ from Burges’ office (sold, Property from the London Residence of the late Sir Paul Getty, K.B.E.; Christie’s, London, 25 November 2004, lot 150). The present lot is recorded by Mordaunt Crook as a ‘water bottle’ (op. cit., p. 316) ‘P.L.U.’ (present location unknown, op. cit. 412, note 21). A ‘water bottle’ made en suite to the present example, with an elongated neck and an off-white ground was acquired by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam in 1998 (inv. no. BK-1998-95) and the design drawing is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (museum no. 8830:3).
Burges’ commissions were usually inscribed with the name of the patron and the date. Such is the case with the silver soup-plates made for the 3rd Marquess of Bute (1847-1900) for Cardiff Castle and nearby Castell Coch, circa 1867-8, inscribed ‘IOHANNES / PATRICIUS / CRICHTON / STUART / MARCHIO:DE / BUTA:ME / FIERI:FECIT / MDCCCLXVIII’ (John Patrick Crichton Stuart, Marquess of Bute, had me made, 1868). The magnificent polychrome decorated and gilt Golden Bed designed for the Guest Chamber of Tower House (Victoria and Albert Museum, W:5:1 to 10-1953) is similarly inscribed, ‘WILLIAM BURGES ME FIERI FECITANNO DOMINI MDCCCLXXIX’ (William Burges had me made in the year of our Lord 1879). The present lot is likewise inscribed ‘WILLIAM. BURGES. ME. F.F…’ indicating it was made for Burges’ own use.
Burges’ own home, Tower House, Melbury Road, Holland Park is ‘an extraordinary distillation of his own artistic career…more exotic than Pugin’s home at Ramsgate; more personal even than Soane’s strange house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields….The interior became the labour of half a lifetime compressed into six frenetic years’ (J. Mordaunt Crook, William Burges and the High Victorian Dream, London, 1981, p. 307). The architecture and interiors of Tower House are recorded in a selection of photographs from 1885 by F. Bedford and A. F. Kersting. An album containing these photographs is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and a selection of the same photographs entitled The House of William Burges sold, Christie’s, London, 7 November 2002, lot 5. The present lot is illustrated in the volume at the Victoria and Albert Museum (and reproduced in J. Mordaunt Crook, op. cit. pl. 245 and 243). The album shows Burges’ metalwork in situ, grouped for display on tables topped with pietra-dura and on polychrome-decorated cabinets - furniture comparable to the marvellous ‘Industry and Idleness Cabinet’ from Burges’ office (sold, Property from the London Residence of the late Sir Paul Getty, K.B.E.; Christie’s, London, 25 November 2004, lot 150). The present lot is recorded by Mordaunt Crook as a ‘water bottle’ (op. cit., p. 316) ‘P.L.U.’ (present location unknown, op. cit. 412, note 21). A ‘water bottle’ made en suite to the present example, with an elongated neck and an off-white ground was acquired by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam in 1998 (inv. no. BK-1998-95) and the design drawing is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (museum no. 8830:3).
Burges’ commissions were usually inscribed with the name of the patron and the date. Such is the case with the silver soup-plates made for the 3rd Marquess of Bute (1847-1900) for Cardiff Castle and nearby Castell Coch, circa 1867-8, inscribed ‘IOHANNES / PATRICIUS / CRICHTON / STUART / MARCHIO:DE / BUTA:ME / FIERI:FECIT / MDCCCLXVIII’ (John Patrick Crichton Stuart, Marquess of Bute, had me made, 1868). The magnificent polychrome decorated and gilt Golden Bed designed for the Guest Chamber of Tower House (Victoria and Albert Museum, W:5:1 to 10-1953) is similarly inscribed, ‘WILLIAM BURGES ME FIERI FECITANNO DOMINI MDCCCLXXIX’ (William Burges had me made in the year of our Lord 1879). The present lot is likewise inscribed ‘WILLIAM. BURGES. ME. F.F…’ indicating it was made for Burges’ own use.