{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O7771"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O7771/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV4501/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV4501/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AV4501","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O7771/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O7771","accessionNumber":"428:1, 2-1882","objectType":"Cup and cover","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>The agate for this cup and cover probably came from India, but may have been carved in England in the early 19th century. The silver-gilt mounts were made in London by the silversmith and jeweller James Aldridge (born 1768), who specialised in mounted hardstone or ceramic pieces.<br><br><b>People</b><br>This cup was probably designed by Gregorio Franchi (1770-1828), the Portuguese companion and agent of the renowned collector William Beckford (1760-1844). Beckford commissioned contemporary craftsmen to make pieces such as this cup, imitating mounted silver of an earlier date. A design book attributed to James Aldridge (the craftsman responsible for the cup), containing numerous sketches for mounted cups, is in the V&A's Department of Prints and Drawings.<br><br><b>Ownership & Significance</b><br>The cup was designed to complement William Beckford's antiquarian collection of medieval and Renaissance period works and was displayed at his home, Fonthill Abbey. Wiltshire. After his death it passed to his daughter, Susan Euphemia, Duchess of Hamilton. It was bought by the V&A as a genuine Renaissance object at the house contents sale held at Hamilton Palace, Lanarkshire, in 1882 (the Palace was destroyed in the 1920s). The cup was taken off display when it was discovered to have been made in the 19th century. However, in the 1970s it regained significance as an early example of Renaissance Revival style.","physicalDescription":"Indian agate bowl and cover and chalcedony knops set with rubies in silver-gilt mounts","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"James Aldridge","id":"A8082"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Gregorio Franchi","id":"N2197"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":"probably"},{"name":{"text":"William Beckford","id":"N15950"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":"probably"},{"name":{"text":"William Beckford","id":"N15950"},"association":{"text":"patron","id":"AAT115251"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"agate","id":"AAT11135"},{"text":"chalcedony","id":"AAT11134"},{"text":"ruby","id":"AAT11082"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"gilding","id":"AAT53789"},{"text":"engraved","id":"AAT53829"},{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Agate, with chalcedony knops set with rubies, in silver-gilt mounts","categories":[{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Silver","id":"THES251836"}],"styles":[{"text":"historicist","id":"x29299"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AV4501"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"120 (VA)","id":"THES49226"},"free":"","case":"CA22","shelf":"","box":"4"},{"current":{"text":"120 (VA)","id":"THES49226"},"free":"","case":"CA22","shelf":"","box":"4"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"cups","id":"AAT43202"}],[{"text":"Lid","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1815-1816","earliest":"1815-05-29","latest":"1816-05-28"},"association":{"text":"hallmarked","id":"x32454"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"24.13","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"13.97","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'JA' within a rectangle with cut corners for James Aldridge.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"foot","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Maker's mark (Hallmark)","note":"Maker's mark (Hallmark); foot"},{"content":"'U'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1815 - 1816","earliest":"1815-01-01","latest":"1816-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"date letter","transliteration":"","type":"Hallmark","note":"London hallmarks for 1815 - 1816."},{"content":"lion passant (guardant)","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"punched","position":"foot","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Hallmark","note":"Hallmark; foot; punched"},{"content":"sovereign's head (George III)","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"punched","position":"foot","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Excise duty mark (Hallmark)","note":"Excise duty mark (Hallmark); foot; punched"}],"objectHistory":"Probably designed by William Beckford (1760-1844) and Gregorio Franchi (1770-1828); made by James Aldridge (born in 1768)\nBowl possibly carved in northern India; mounted in London\n\nHistorical significance: An early example of the Renaissance Revival in metalwork. Made as part of the furnishings of Fonthill Abbey, the Gothic Revival mansion which William Beckford created to house his collection. Beckford possessed a large number of mounted ceramic and hardstone vessels, some of which were genuinely medieval or Renaissance; other like this one were created to the design of Beckford and his Portuguese comapnion, Gregorio Franchi.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Cup and cover, agate with silver-gilt mounts and rubies, London hallmarks for 1815-16, mark of James Aldridge.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Snodin, Michael. Some designs for English gold and silver. <u>V&A Album</u>. 1985, vol.  4, pp. 147-154."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hare, Susan M. Depicting a Beckford piece. <u>The Silver Society Journal.</u> Autumn 1993, vol. 4, p. 161."},{"reference":{"text":"Jones, Mark (ed.), <i>Fake? : The Art of Deception</i>, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1990","id":"AUTH351330"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Clive Wainwright, 'Some objects from William Beckford's Collection now in the Victoria and Albert Museum', <font -u>Burlington Magazine</font> CXXII (1980), Nos. 932 & 933, pp. 735-48, 820-34"},{"reference":{"text":"Fox, Celina (ed.), <i>London - World City, 1800-1840</i>, New Haven : Yale University Presss, 1992","id":"AUTH354414"},"details":"299","free":""}],"production":"Previously attributed to Joseph Angell, but as Snodin and Baker have shown, the evidence of Franchi's accounts and a signed design book in the V&A leave no doubt that Aldridge was the maker. \n \r\n'Some objects from William Beckford's Collection now in the Victoria and Albert Museum', <font -u>Burlington Magazine</font> CXXII (1980), Nos. 932 & 933, pp. 735-48, 820-34","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"arabesques","id":"AAT10206"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"The mounts bear the London hall-mark for 1815-16; maker's mark of Joseph Angell. The agate cup and cover were probably carved in the Cambay district of Northern India in the early 19th century. The two chalcedony bosses set with rubies may also have been imported from India or the Near East.\n\r\nThe cup was made for William Beckford and was in his collection at both Fonthill Abbey and Bath. Upon his death in 1844, it passed into the Duke of Hamilton's collection, from whence it was acquired by the Museum. The moresque decoration of the mounts is an instance of Beckford's advanced tastes; it was more than a decade later that the Renaissance style began to influence silver design in this country. Angell, however, appears to have made several similar cups, all probably deriving from this one. Outline drawings showing variations on the theme are mounted in an album from his workshop in the Deaprtment of Prints and Drawings.\r\nGallery 121 case 4","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"British Galleries:\r\nBeckford commissioned this cup in imitation of the mounted hardstone and rock crystal objects, that played such an important part in 17th-century 'cabinets of curiosity'. He imitated princely European collections by amassing large numbers of these exotic confections. The ornamental details of the gilt mounts were based on Renaissance designs.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}},{"text":"British Galleries:\r\nBeckford commissioned this cup in imitation of the mounted hardstone and rock crystal objects, that played such an important part in 17th-century 'cabinets of curiosity'. He imitated princely European collections by amassing large numbers of these exotic confections. The ornamental details of the gilt mounts were based on Renaissance designs.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["428:1-1882","428:2-1882"],"accessionNumberNum":"428","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1882,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Cup","Lid"],"assets":["2019LV6935","2019LV6857"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"1998-06-02","availableToBook":false}}