A Stained & Stencilled Mauchline Ware Visiting Card Case – 19th century

Description

Heading : A Stained & Stencilled ‘Fern Ware’ Visiting Card Case – 19th century
Date : 19th century
Period : Victorian
Origin : Scotland – Mauchline. Lanark or neighbouring villages
Decoration : Multi-layered stencilling on to a plain sycamore box; actual plants were used for the templates for the process. which was repeated using different combinations of leaves to produced the ‘layered’ effect. Our box comes complete with an ‘original’ calling card. which would have been presented by the inestimable Mr J A Smith of High Street. Harrow…
Size : 10.2 x 5.7 x 1.0 cm
Condition : Good – some rubbing to stain on corners; small bumps and dents to the flat faces as you might expect with a softwood item of this age
Restoration : None
Weight :  21 grams

Notes : Fern-ware is stated to have been an offshoot of the more well known Mauchline Ware trade. carried on by two companies and a network of homeworkers during a large part of the 19th century (around 1810 to 1890); it has been claimed that the ferns used in creation of the patterns were sourced from all corners of the world. including New Zealand. The trade was given huge impetus around 1840. when a mania for collecting and growing ferns gripped the UK – pteridomania. or ‘fern-fever’; needless to say. anything decorated with ferns was fair game for the adherents of this albeit fleeting cause. and production increased to keep pace with the new-found demand.