Objects of Vertu

Objects of virtu are decorative works of art, luxury items and practical pieces. They generally comprise small objects made of gold or silver, perhaps incorporating hardstones, gemstones, micromosaics, enamel, porcelain and miniatures. Examples include bonbonnières (small decorative boxes used to contain sweets), cane/parasol handles, enamelled wares, etuis (small ornamental cases for needles, bodkins, cosmetics and other small articles), minaudières (small decorative handbags to substitute for an evening bag), perfume/scent bottles, pomanders (small balls or perforated containers containing aromatic substances), vesta cases (for matches), snuff boxes and other small objects.

The breed of dog featured on objects of vertu tended to reflect the breeds popular at that time, and the breeds most popular in the 18th Century were the Toy Spaniel and the Pug. Where the upper echelons of society led, those down the social order were keen to follow.

Toy Spaniels were made popular by the patronage of the Duke of Blenheim and King Charles I, who was frequently seen accompanied by a small spaniel. The popularity of the Pug owes its fame to the countless models of the breed by Meissen.

Heinrich Count von Brühl took control of the Meissen factory following the death of Augustus II. The von Brühl family were enthusiastic Pug owners. It was Count Heinrich and Johann Joachim Kändler, a modellmeister at Meissen, who jointly were responsible for the great tradition of Meissen Pug. So popular did the Pug become that other factories throughout Europe soon started producing models of the breed. The shape of the Pug — compact round outline and curled tail — lent itself to be modelled on many objects.

The cane handle (above)— the end piece being in the shape of a Pug’s head, while the rest of the handle has hand-painted floral decorations — was created by Meissen in 1750. Pretty floral decorations complement many of these small objects, the scent bottle in the shape of a sitting Pug (below), the detachable head secured by a gilt collar and chain, being one example.

The bonbonnière in the form of a recumbent Pug bitch affectionately licking one of her three puppies (above) was made at the short-lived Chelsea factory in London in 1770. The factory was the first important porcelain manufactory in England, established circa 1743-45. Situated close to fashionable Ranelagh Gardens and Pleasure Ground, it aimed its wares at the luxury market. 

Micromosaics were created from tiny fragments of colored glass called tesserae. They are cut into hundreds of minute cubes and arranged on a copper or gold tray to create a scene, portrait or landscape. During the 18th and 19th centuries these plaques were often made in Rome.

Many found their way into northern Europe, where they were set into a variety of often delicate little objects. They were brought back by young aristocrats on the “Grand Tour,” considered the best way to complete a gentleman’s education.

Travelling by coach with a retinue of servants, they would be away for months, sometimes years, filling crates with paintings, sculptures, fine clothes and other object along the way. Their most popular destinations were the great towns and cities of the Renaissance. The plan was to set young noblemen up to manage their estates, furnish their houses and prepare for conversation in polite society. Sometimes a taste for vice got in the way.

The two featured would have been made in Rome and acquired on the “Grand Tour.” The liver-and-white Toy Spaniel is set into a frame for mounting on a box, and the recumbent Blenheim Toy Spaniel is mounted on the lid of a silver hardstone snuff box. The latter was sold by Kinghams Auctioneers for £650.

Vesta matches, so called after the Roman goddess of fire and the hearth, were made of a wax stem with embedded cotton threads and a tip of phosphorus. As the first successful friction match, they first appeared in 1826. The vesta case, a small portable box used to keep the matches dry and also guard against accidental combustion, a real threat, first appeared in the 1830s.

Following the formation of the Kennel Club in 1873 by Sewallis Evelyn Shirley M.P., along with 12 other gentlemen, breeds became more standardized, and by selective breeding the number of breeds increased dramatically.

As with the Pug and Toy Spaniel of a century or more earlier, breeds that were popular during the latter quarter of the 19th Century are the ones most featured in the various art forms. The Bulldog (above) and Smooth Fox Terrier were two of the most popular, and it is those breeds that feature on the two Victorian vesta cases in the form of kennels, the head of each breed enamelled at the kennel entrance. The striker used to ignite the matches can be clearly seen on the side of the Smooth Fox Terrier’s kennel below).

The little silver and enamel cases with sporting dogs (and ladies in various stages of undress) were aimed to the male market, and many originate from the Continent, Austria and what is now Germany in particular. The Edwardian silver vest case, the lid enamelled with four couples of Foxhounds (above), was made by Sampson Mordan, a British silversmith and co-inventor of the first mechanical pencil. The subject suggests that it probably was a private commission for or by a huntsman or Master of Hounds. It was recently sold by Bearnes, Hampton and Littlewood for £1,100.

The small silver and enamel cigarette case of three sporting dogs that have just brought down a doe is typical of the type of scenes enamelled on small Continental boxes and cases.

Sadly, the identity of the artists of many of these beautiful enamelled small objects is lost to the passage of time.