Royal Vienna Neoclassical Urn and Cover, Late 19th Century
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A Royal Vienna neoclassical urn and cover, late 19th century, of baluster shaped with a pedestal base and small bracket handles, decorated with two oval reserves, one depicting Mars and Venus with cupids, a trio of figures in a landscape to the reverse, with lavish formal gilt and enamel borders and jewelling to taupe and green bands on a red brown ground, with underglaze blue beehive or shield mark underside. The cover with wear to the gilding, in otherwise good condition as catalogued, height: 22 cm
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- Aphrodite / Venus - In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, desire and beauty, whilst in Roman mythology she is called Venus.
- Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.
For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.
Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
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