Tunbridge Ware Book Slide with Floral Mosaic and Eridge Castle c1850

Description

Heading : Tunbridge Ware book slide with floral mosaic and Eridge Castle
Date : c1850
Period : Victoria
Origin : Tunbridge Wells
Decoration : Standard curve ended book slide – decorated at one end with Eridge Castle and the other with a floral mosaic
Size :  12.6cm x 43.6cm x14cm when fully extended
Condition : There is a sliver chip to the base of the end with Eridge Castle. a little lifting throughout. no tesserae losses
Restoration : None
Weight :  386 grams

Notes : This piece is an excellent example of the collaborative nature of the Tunbridge Ware trade; the structure of the bookslide (specifically. the shape of the end panels. the angled joints to the underside of the frame and the mitred rather than butt-end fit of the panels and base) is exactly the same as that of a labelled example we have seen from the workshops of Edmund Nye. However. the mosaics and geometric banding are the work of Henry Hollamby who is known to have sold such pieces wholesale to other manufacturers. Nye’s label. as seen. was in use from 1848 to 1853. and Hollamby had perfected the method of producing his topographic mosaics by this same timeframe. hence our date as stated

The Eridge Castle image is an albeit somewhat reduced version of one of his standard mosaics (it has been made narrower to fit on its panel by ‘losing’ the outermost towers and trees on both ends).