{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O808189"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O808189/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HY0539/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HY0539/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HY0539","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O808189/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O808189","accessionNumber":"8389:4","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"A drawing of the detachable arms of a silver candelabrum. Profile, Full size, 160 x 336 mm.  ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Anonymous","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"Maker, Designer","id":"x30792"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen and ink and grey wash on laid paper. The paper watermarked J. Whatman. \r\n","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"English","id":"THES275052"},{"text":"Silver","id":"THES251836"},{"text":"Silver Designs","id":"THES278107"}],"styles":[{"text":"neoclassical","id":"AAT21477"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2015HY0539"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC (VA)","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"M","shelf":"45","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1780","earliest":"1780-01-01","latest":"1780-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":"Circa"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"188","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"347","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Two arms with acanthus ornaments rising from a vase with a palmette in between. This is a presentation drawing very closely related to a design showing a whole candelabrum 9111C  an example of which was marked by Scofield and hallmarked 1783- 1784. The vases in both designs are very similar although in different position. In both designs the cornucopia shaped drip pans would not function properly and the made candelabrum shows conventional drip pans. \rThe arms of the Scofield candelabrum are however closer in design to 9111E. (see 9111C). \rThis drawing was bought from the dealer Robert Jackson on the 24th of May 1878 with 14 others This drawing was bought from the dealer Robert Jackson on the 24th of May 1878 with 14 others for £2- 17- 0.  \r\rThis is one of a group of drawings acquired from the dealer R. Jackson between 1878 and 1883. They are nearly all carried out in pen and ink and grey wash and represent silver, which is of dates from c. 1780 to 1795. They are very largely by one hand,one example of which (8389:3) is inscribed with the initials RM which may be a signature. \rThe RM hand is fairly skilled, but poor on perspective, and its pen and grey wash technique is not unlike that of contemporary architectural draughtsmen. Most of the drawings certainly or probably represent silver made in the workshops of the leading London firms of John Scofield, Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp, Thomas Pitts and William Pitts. The drawings fall into two types: small sketches often in perspective and with descriptive notes, and full size profiles, and one perspective.\rThe former group are patterns for showing or sending to customers. The larger type, with the exception of 8389:5 and 8389:6, which are not by RM, can also be described as patterns or preliminary drawings for them, because in one case (8389:16) they are mixed with the smaller type, but also because several (8389:2, 8389:1) bear appropriate inscriptions. Their very high finish, clean state, illusionistic shading and unnecessary repetition of details also point to this conclusion. \r8389:18 shows a condiment service with pieces similar to those by both John Scofield and Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp. \rHilary Young, in discussing the whole group (Hilary Young, “Neo- Classical Silversmiths’ Drawings at the Victoria and Albert Museum” Apollo Magazine, Vol. 129, N. 328, June 1989, p. 384- 388, 445, fig 9- 10) has suggested that most of the drawings represent the stock of a retailer, such as Robert Makepeace, Jefferys and Jones, or Rundell and Bridge. Certainly Smith, Sharp and Scofield supplied the second, and Smith and Sharp the third, while the appearance of the work of all these goldsmiths in the 1781 plate supplied to William Beckford (M. Snodin, M. Baker, ‘William Beckford’s Silver I’, The Burlington Magazine, November and December 1980, pp. 734- 748) strongly suggests the services of a single retailer. The application of handles typical of Smith and Sharp on a cruet stand, which may be connected with Scofield (8389:17), raises the possibility of collaboration of a more complex kind, perhaps through the agency of a designer supplied by the retailer. A similar collaboration is suggested by the repetition of the same motifs on the candlesticks linked to Scofield (8389.20) supplied to Sir John Fane as appear on his toilet service of the same date made by Smith and Sharp (Vanessa Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver 1600-1940, 1986, 19.6.1969, lots 159-63). \r","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"A design for the arms of a silver candelabrum by an anonymous draughtsman, c. 1780","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hilary Young, “Neo- Classical Silversmiths’ Drawings at the Victoria and Albert Museum” Apollo Magazine, Vol. 129, N. 328, June 1989, p. 384- 388, 445, fig 9- 10. "}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["8389:4"],"accessionNumberNum":"8389","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-21","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}