Peachy at The Met: Victorian Electrotypes Old Treasures, New Technology November 22, 2011–April 22, 2012
Victorian Electrotypes is one of the best current exhibits at The Met, and one object that impressed us the most was the gigantic wine cooler/punch bowl which we believe is from 1883 that is dead center in the middle of the room that you cannot miss. That would be one big hit at any Christmas party right now! We also liked the cup and cover in the form of an ostrich-how creative! The nautilus shell is beautiful...and you can't miss the vase by Tiffany & Co.
The wall in the southeast corner of the room in the east corner wall shows which objects started this fabulous collection in 1873 and the exhibit today is tremendous!
For the first time in nearly a century, The Metropolitan Museum of Art willdisplay a selection from its large collection of electrotypes, the metalwork
reproductions that were among the first European decorative arts purchased by the
Museum in the 1870s and 1880s. These highly sculptural and often monumental
pieces were intended to represent to the American public the most ambitious
examples of Mannerist and Baroque goldsmiths’ work and to serve as inspiration
for artists and manufacturers. They were made by electroforming, a technology
first developed in the 1840s that produced an extremely precise copy of an original
by running an electrical charge through a solution to deposit metal into a mold.
Victorian Electrotypes: Old Treasures, New Technology, on view at The
Metropolitan Museum of Art from November 22, 2011, through April 22, 2012,
will include approximately 110 works. The earliest purchases were made with the
advice of the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum),
whose director Henry Cole was a prime mover in an international project designed
to distribute casts and copies “for the promotion of art” to museums across the
world.
The “Convention for the International Exchange of Reproductions of Works of
Art” was signed in 1867 by 15 of Europe’s reigning heads and introduced an era of
international cooperation and intellectual openness, encouraging public access to
royal treasuries that had traditionally been inaccessible. The largest group of
electrotypes in the exhibition comprises copies of the so-called “Russian
Treasures,” the rich holdings of silver and gold housed in the Kremlin, the
Hermitage, and Russian monasteries. The exhibition will also include electrotypes
held by the arms and armor, medieval, and Greek and Roman departments of the
Metropolitan Museum.
To fabricate the electrotypes, specialist mold makers from the Elkington
Manufactory and Franchi and Sons traveled to sites across Europe. They returned
to England with piece-molds made of gutta percha (a malleable latex derived from
a Malaysian tree). The molds were used to produce copper patterns that would
serve as the master model from which multiple copies could be made. Base-metal
electrotypes could be patinated, silver plated, or gilt to more closely resemble the
original work.
Also on view will be Tiffany and Company’s magnificent Bryant Vase, the first
piece of American silver to enter the collection. Tiffany later produced several
electrotyped copies of the vase, and those copper molds, along with an animated
video, will be shown in the installation to explain the electroforming process.The electrotypes created a strong impression in the press when they were first
exhibited in the Museum’s galleries. The painting by American artist Frank Waller,
Interior View of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when in Fourteenth Street,
shows a gallery in 1879 with a sampling of the earliest acquisitions in situ. Some
critics remarked that they were worthy of study while others complained that they
represented only “barbaric luxury.” By the early years of the 20th century, as the
Museum began to acquire original works of art of great quality, the electrotypes,
like the Museum’s plaster casts, were relegated to storage. Many museums
deaccessioned their electrotypes, and the Metropolitan Museum is the only
American museum today with an extensive collection that was acquired in the 19th
century.
Victorian Electrotypes: Old Treasures, New Technology is organized by Ellenor
Alcorn, Associate Curator in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of European
Sculpture and Decorative Arts.
Education programs offered in conjunction with the exhibition will include gallery
talks and a Sunday at the Met program. Further details and more information
about the exhibition and related programs can be found at www.metmuseum.org.
1, 2. Ewer and Basin
Elkington & Co. (in business ca. 1836-1963)
English (Birmingham), 1883
Electroformed copper, gilt
Copy of a silver-gilt original made in France (Paris), ca. 1625 now in the Armoury
Chamber, Kremlin Museums, Moscow
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1883
83.18.106-107
3. Cup in form of an Eagle
Elkington & Co. (in business ca. 1836-1963)
English (Birmingham), 1883
Electroformed copper, gilt
Copy of a silver-gilt original made by Christoph Jamnitzer in Germany
(Nuremberg), ca. 1595, now in the Armoury Chamber, Kremlin Museums,
Moscow
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1883
83.18.213
4. Ewer
Giovanni Ferdinando Franchi (Italian, 1812-1874)
English (London), 1873
Electroformed copper, silver plated and gilt
Copy of a silver-gilt original made in Belgium (Antwerp) ca. 1558, now in the
Musée du Louvre, Paris
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, 1873
73.8.52
5. Standing Cup with Cover
Giovanni Ferdinando Franchi (Italian, 1812-1874)
English (London), 1873
Electroformed copper, gilt copper
Copy of a silver-gilt and enamel original made in Germany (Augsburg) ca. 1570,
now in the Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz (Austria)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, 1873
73.8.55a, b
6. Ewer part of a toilet service
Elkington & Co. (in business ca. 1836-1963)
English (Birmingham), 1883
Electroformed copper, gilt
Copy of a gold original made in Germany (Augsburg), 1736-1740 now in the State
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1883
83.18.28
7. Tankard with Cover
Elkington & Co. (in business ca. 1836-1963)
English (Birmingham), 1883
Electroformed copper, gilt, fictile ivory
Electroformed copy of a silver-gilt and ivory original made in Germany
(Nuremberg), second half of the 17th century, formerly in the Chéréméteff
collection, St. Petersburg
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1883
83.18.37
8. Table Decoration in the form of a Boy Riding a Camel
Elkington & Co. (in business ca. 1836-1963)
English (Birmingham), 1883
Electroformed copper, gilt
Copy of a silver-gilt original made in Germany (Danzig), ca. 1640-42 now in the
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1883
83.18.54
9. Drinking cup in the form of Charles I of England on Horseback
Elkington & Co. (in business ca. 1836-1963)
English (Birmingham), 1883
Electroformed copper, gilt
Copy of a silver-gilt original made in Germany (Augsburg), 1640-45 now in the
Armoury Chamber, Kremlin Museums, Moscow
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1883
83.18.45
10. Ewer and Basin (Lavabo Set)
Moldovan (Chisinau), ca. 1680-85
Silver, partially gilded
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wrightsman Fund, 2005
2005.62.1, .2a, b
11. Ewer and Basin (Lavabo Set)
Elkington & Co.
English (Birmingham), 1883
Electroformed copper, silver plated and gilt
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1883
83.18.95, .96a, b
12. Interior View of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when in Fourteenth Street
Frank Waller, American (1842-1923)
1881
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, 1895
95.29
