{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O103896"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O103896/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JU1494/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017JU1494/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017JU1494","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O103896/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O103896","accessionNumber":"M.1699-1944","objectType":"Brandy taster","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Silver, two-handled, circular, flat-bottomed cup, embossed with grapes on the base, the side embossed with tulips.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"John Richardson","id":"A38860"},"association":{"text":"goldsmith","id":"THES49062"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"embossing","id":"AAT53826"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver, embossed","categories":[{"text":"Drinking","id":"THES48965"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Silver","id":"THES251836"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2017JU1494"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"65","id":"THES49734"},"free":"","case":"9","shelf":"7","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Wine taster","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1675-1676","earliest":"1675-05-29","latest":"1676-05-28"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by W. J. Johnson","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"03/08/2011","earliest":"2011-08-03","latest":"2011-08-03"},"part":"rim of bowl","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"03/08/2011","earliest":"2011-08-03","latest":"2011-08-03"},"part":"Width across handles","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"4.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"03/08/2011","earliest":"2011-08-03","latest":"2011-08-03"},"part":"base of bowl to top of handle","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"03/08/2011","earliest":"2011-08-03","latest":"2011-08-03"},"part":"Base of bowl to rim of bowl","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"61.9","unit":"g","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"1995-1996","earliest":"1995-01-01","latest":"1996-12-31"},"part":"entire bowl","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Four marks struck on inside of base of bowl:\nCrowned leopard's head for London assay office\nLion passant, sterling mark\n'S' in a shield, the date mark for the year 1675-76\n'JR' in cypher with a pellet below, in a shaped shield, the mark of John Richardson","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"This form of Richardson's mark, with a more shaped outline punch, is rare and is found only on pieces from the mid- to late 1670s."},{"content":"Three sets of initials scratched on the bowl at different times (though all could be of 18th century date):\r\n'PM' and (faintly) 'IE' scratched on flat underside of the bowl; 'IB' engraved on the outer rim of the bowl.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"John Richardson, who made this piece, was among the most important goldsmiths in London in the late seventeenth century. Born in Worcester in the early 1640s, he was apprenticed to the prominent London goldsmith Henry Greenway and eventually took over his master's business when Greenway retired in 1670. Richardson enjoyed a successful career: the scale of his activity is reflected in the number of apprentices (four) attached to his workshop, and in the importance of the commissions entrusted to him. These included candlesticks, flagons, a basin and altar cruets for Westminster Abbey, marked for London 1684-85.\n\r\nPersonal matters appear to have motivated his return to Worcester in around 1695, and he died there in 1697-98.\n\nOne early owner valued the cup sufficiently to inscribe his initials 'IB' on the rim; two other sets of initials are scratched faintly on the underside. Beyond these initials, nothing is known of the cup's early owners. It was bequeathed to the Museum in 1944 by W. J. Johnson as a sweetmeat dish, an identification perhaps suggested by the three eighteenth-century ball and claw feet added to the base at an unspecified date. These three feet were subsequently removed by the Museum, and the piece reattributed as a brandy taster in 1995-96. The maker's mark has been the source of some confusion. Originally described simply as 'R in a shaped estucheon', it was redescribed in the mid-1990s as 'PR in monogram over a cinquefoil'. Recent research (Davidson and Davidson: 2010) suggests it should be read as 'JR'.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Brandy taster, silver, London hallmarks for 1675-76, mark of John Richardson.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Davidson, Simon, and Cathlyn Davidson. John and Samuel Richardson: seventeenth century goldsmiths, their marks and work. <u>Silver Studies: the Journal of the Silver Society of the U.K.</u> December 2010, vol. 26, pp.5-16."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Informal Drinking: Brandy\nBrandy or 'Hottwater' was a popular drink in 17th-century northern Europe. Unlike ale, wine and cider it was not taxed until the 1690s, making it the cheapest alcoholic drink. Many inexpensive lightweight brandy cups survive.\n\n45. Brandy cup\nLondon, 1675-6\nMark PR, unidentified\nEngraved on one side IB and on the other IA\nW. J. Johnson Bequest. M.1699-1944\n","date":{"text":"1995-2000","earliest":"1995-01-01","latest":"2000-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["M.1699-1944"],"accessionNumberNum":"1699","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1944,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2004-09-10","availableToBook":false}}