Flight, Barr & Barr Worcester Vases, c.1815 (Pair)

• Marbling - A descriptive term for a finish applied to plastic, ceramics, glass, plaster or wood to imitate the colours and characteristic markings of various marble types. For moulded items such as the first three above, the marbling is within the item.
  
  Interiors and furniture were marbled from from the early 17th century to the late Victorian period. The craft was practiced by skilled decorators using a combination of brushes and sponges. Some of the finishes achieved were so realistic as to make it difficult to distinguish the marbled surface from the marble surface.
  
  Marbling is also a term applied to a finish for paper as often seen in the front and endpapers of old books. The marbling is achieved by floating the colours on water and then transferring them to paper. However the marbling finish on paper, as with the marbling finish on plastics, with its multitude of colours has little resemblance to naturally occurring marble.
• A/f, as Inspected - The letters "A/F" or "as inspected" as part of a description is the cataloguer's shorthand for "all faults" or "as found", meaning the item has some type of damage or deficiency, it is of uncertain date or provenance, and/or that the seller takes no responsibility for the completeness of the item or the accuracy of the description.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Worcester (England), item types - vases 92
• Worcester (England), other - Barr Flight Barr / Flight, Barr & Barr 142