An impressive Victorian silver and parcel-gilt presentation vase
Charles Frederick Hancock, London 1868, designed by Raffaele Monti (1818-1881), rim of base also stamped C. F. HANCOCK 39 BRUTON ST LONDON, and with incuse stamp И20
Large squat-baluster jug form, Renaissance style, with long neck flaring out to a wide pouring lip with rolled edges, a polished gilt interior, the fluted high scrolled handle mounted by two winged fighting dragons, mouths snarling baring sharp teeth and serpent like tongue, faces contorted in combat, a dragon's scaly-tail winding down the handle like a corkscrew, the whole decorated with elaborately embossed scrolling foliage and shell-like motifs, burnished and gilded areas juxtaposed against a matt ground, to each side a horizontal oval cartouche featuring a bas-relief of six Bacchanalian putti and a stag's head, to the other five putti hunting with hounds, the main body sitting atop a wide knop interspersed with vertical chased foliate panels and prominent gilded double lobes, a smaller knopped and lobed stem beneath widening to a domed, stepped circular spreading foot, the wide gilt rim highly polished, height 78cm, weight 212oz.
Footnotes:
Following the success of the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris (otherwise known as the Paris Universal Exhibition or World Fair) and in a bid to rival the London International Exhibition of 1862, Napoleon III (the Emperor of France) organised France's second Exposition Universelle. It was an opportunity to not only demonstrate his political authority on the World stage, but also show off his country's technological and artistic prowess. At the height of his reign, Napoleon III declared that the second major Paris Exposition Universelle would therefore take place in 1867, on the Champ de Mars. Napoleon III hoped that by walking around the Champ de Mars, visitors would feel as though they were travelling around the World all in one day, stating that he wanted to 'make it more universal than the previous ones'.

Consequently forty two countries and their colonies participated in the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, with each country invited to erect an on-site national pavilion representing their 'authentic' national culture and architectural style. The Paris World Fair was a huge success, attracting circa fifteen million visitors in six months. The national pavilion format became an integral part of subsequent international exhibitions, and World Fairs became an international platform for showcasing a country's distinctive characteristics, alongside their agricultural, industrial and artistic strengths.

As such, the C. F. Hancock silver presentation vase on offer is interesting on many levels, due to its apparent connection with the 1867 Paris Universal Exhibition, and therefore its part in showcasing English art and industry. The goldsmith Charles Frederick Hancock (British, 1807-1891), the prestigious manufacturing retail silversmith and jeweller of Bruton Street and Bond Street in London, was known for the 'manufacture of plate and jewellery of a superior class, and is extensively patronised by the nobility and gentry, being noted for the taste and quality of its productions. Artists of celebrity are engaged as modellers of groups and designs for surtouts de table and the dressoir, presentation pieces, racing prizes, &c. Among the modellers may be noted especially H. H. Armstead R.A.; C. B. Birch A. R. A.; Signor Raffaele Monti; Eugene Laury and Marshall Wood' (Gilda Aurifabrorum, p.97). Hancock had previously been a partner at Hunt & Roskell, but the partnership had been short-lived and he had left to set up on his own. Such was the quality of his work that on 13th August 1849, only eight months after establishing his own business, he was awarded the Royal Warrant of appointment from Queen Victoria and was blessed with patronage from gentry, celebrities and the nobility of Europe; which included Napoleon III.

Major silver manufacturers such as Hancock's, Garrard's, Hunt & Roskell and Elkington used the International Exhibitions to showcase their spectacular presentation pieces, and this is what dominated the English silversmiths' area at the 1867 Paris Universal Exhibition. In 'The Art-Journal Catalogue of the Paris Universal Exhibition 1867' (p.316), the current lot on offer appears to be the same Hancock's presentation piece on show during the exhibition, as illustrated with the following drawing (fig.1) and description:

'Messrs. C. F. Hancock, Son, and Co., supply us with three of their many 'testimonial' works, of which we give engravings on this page. They are admirable as Art-productions, and exhibit the excellences of manipulative skill for which this firm has been long renowned. The first Vase was purchased at the Exhibition by the Emperor of the French; the figures and bas-reliefs are by the sculptor MONTI, the ornamental parts by OWEN JONES ... These works, with others exhibited by the firm, obtained one of the gold medals.'

It cannot be certain that this is the exact piece that Napoleon III 'the Emperor of the French' purchased in 1867, as the hallmark on it is for 1868, but the form is identical. It is either the same one or a carbon copy, however it is well established that exhibition pieces of presentation silver did not always have dates on which corresponded with production date or exhibition date, nor were they always stamped at the time they were shown. They were used by manufacturers to advertise their products at the International Exhibitions to a worldwide audience, and often purchased and personalised with an inscription at a later date. The presentation silver shown at exhibitions was not necessarily to sell, but used to foster a demand in monumental sports trophies and testimonials.'These silver sculptures ... celebrated the achievements of the Victorian industrialist, soldier and sportsman and demonstrated the virtuoso skills and techniques of the contemporary silversmith' (Patterson, p.59).

As specified in the Art-Journal Catalogue earlier cited, the designer and modeller of this lot is Raffaele Monti (1818-1871) a sculptor, author and poet, who was born in Switzerland. He studied under his father, Gaetano Monti (1776–1847) of Ravenna, a pupil of Bertel Thorvaldsen, who worked on Milan Cathedral and on monuments initiated under Napoleon. Monti moved to London in 1846 where he executed a marble sculpture of a Veiled Vestal Virgin for the Duke of Devonshire, which the Duke displayed in his villa west of London, known as Chiswick House. This veiled female sculpture became Monti's signature motif, displayed prolifically in the homes of the Victorian elite as conversation pieces. Monti went on to exhibit at the Royal Academy and displayed several sculptures at the Great Exhibition of 1851, with one in particular proving a major draw, 'A Circassian Slave in the Market Place at Constantinople'. Monti was most prominent in the public eye in the early 1860s; his equestrian bronze statue of the Marquis of Londonderry in hussar's uniform was placed in Durham, and in 1862 he not only exhibited his monumental marble sculpture 'The Sleep of Sorrow and the Dream of Joy: an Allegory of the Italian Risorgimento' at the London International Exhibition but was also involved in the design and modelling of an impressive display of silver executed by C. F. Hancock and entitled 'The Poetry of Great Britain', as featured in 'The Illustrated London News' on May 31st 1862 (p.559).

Despite his celebrity, Monti did not have good commercial acumen and was heavily in debt. In the latter part of his career, he hung up his carving tools to concentrate on designing and modelling for goldsmiths such as Hancock's, and one can only presume that this was a more lucrative enterprise for him than marble carving. The Goodwood Cup (1866); The Beaufort Cup for Bath Races (1867); The Marquis of Exeter's Cup for the Royal Victoria Yacht Club (1867); The Stockbridge Race Cup (1868); The Doncaster Cup (1868); The Brighton Cup (1869) and The Royal Hunt Cup for Ascot Horse Races (1874) were all monumental silver trophies designed by Monti, which showcased his sublime artistic skills. It seems a tragedy that Monti, a man of such prodigious talent, died destitute in October 1881.

The other artist involved with the current lot is Owen Jones (1809-1874), an English/Welsh architect and designer. He was responsible for the interior decoration of the Great Exhibition in 1851 and in 1856 published his seminal work 'The Grammar of Ornament'. The ornamental decoration on this vase would have been inspired by his research, possibly 'Plate LXXXIII, Elizabethan No 1', and his work on pattern and design is still influential to this day.

Literature
William Chaffers, 'Gilda Aurifabrorum a history of English goldsmiths and plateworkers', 1853, p.97

John Culme, 'Nineteenth-Century Silver', (London: Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd, 1977)

Tim Gihring, 'Secrets of the Veiled Lady', Minneapolis Institute of Art, online blog June 10 2020

'Globe', 17 August, 1867, The Marquis of Exeter's Cup

'Illustrated London News', May 31, 1862, The International Exhibition, p.559

'Illustrated London News', July 4, 1868, The Stockbridge Cup, p.23

'Illustrated London News', June 27, 1874, The Ascot Prize Gold Plate

'Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951', University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011

Owen Jones, 'The Grammar of Ornament', plate LXXXIII – Elizabethan No 1, published 1856

Angus Patterson, 'A National Art and a National Manufacture: Grand Presentation Silver of the Mid-Nineteenth Century', Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 – the Present, No 25, Decorative Art: Exhibitions and Celebrations (2001), pp.59-73

Brantley Sanders, '1867 Exposition Universelle', W&L Paris, online access

'Sheffield Daily Telegraph', 3 September, 1868, The Doncaster Cup

'The Art-Journal Catalogue of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867', p.316

'V&A Archive and Library', Raffaele Monti AAD/2011/3

'Weston-super-Mare Gazette and General Advertiser', 18 May 1867, The Beaufort Cup
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