Royal Worcester Landscape Scene Urn Vases by Harry Davis

Harry Davis (Royal Worcester) a magnificent important pair of…
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Harry Davis (Royal Worcester) a magnificent important pair of urn shaped covered vases a magnificent important pair of urn shaped covered vases moulded with acanthus leaf and raised on pedestals supported on square plinths. The entwined handles modelled with florets, each superbly painted with landscape scenes after Claude Lorraine. The gilding displays the finest example of the master craftsmen skills.(Illustrated in the book Royal Worcester porcelain by Henry Sandon, Plate 135). These vases were used by the Royal Worcester factory to exhibit the finest example of their work (and unusually displayed the different gilding available for the foot) and also on loan and exhibited in later years in the Royal Worcester Dyson Perrins Museum Worcester, shape no. 2340 C 1940 height 39 cm, width 26.5 cm, (10 1/2 cm) signed H Davis. Provenance: Wales collection, featured on catalogue front cover.

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  • Acanthus - A stylized leaf motif, one of the primary decorative elements of classical Greek and Roman architecture, derived from the genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Mediterranean area. It is a common element in classical Greek and Roman design, and is often seen in Corinthian and Composite order columns and used as a decorative element in English, European and Australian furniture, particularly on the curve of a leg, and as decoration for a corbel.
  • Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.

    For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.

    Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.

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