An important Barr Flight and Barr Worcester porcelain, marbled…
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An important Barr Flight and Barr Worcester porcelain, marbled and shell decorated, set of four dishes, made for the Gordon Family, by John Barker, 1812. The set comprising two plate and two shaped dishes, each central roundel painted with various shells, seaweeds and coral within tolled gilt borders and a grey marbled ground, each roundel surmounted by the Gordon family crest, Animo Non Astutia, painted mark referring to Coventry Street (4). Provenance: Phillips Edinburgh, November 14th 1980, the Estate of the Honourable Mrs. Jock Leith of Glenkindie Castle, Aberdeenshire. Reference: the Dictionary of Worcester porcelain, volume I (1751-1851) by John Sandon, page 180-181 & colour plate 76 & page 204. John Sandon writes 'A remarkable Barr, flight & Barr dessert service was made circa 1812 for the Gordon family and was sold in Scotland in 1980 by Phillips from the estate of a descendant, the Honourable Mrs. Jock Leith of Glenkindie Castle, Aberdeenshire. The centres of each piece were painted with shells in the distinctive hand which has been attributed to John Barker. The marbled grounds were reserved with the family crest within a neoclassical gold border'.

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  • 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.
  • Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
  • Important - Important is a word used in the antique trade to indicate an object should be ranked above other similar objects, and is therefore more valuable.

    The object could be considered important because it is by a famous designer or maker, has been shown at a major exhibition, is of exquisite workmanship, is rare or is a "one-off", was made for an important patron, and so on.

    Even further up the pecking order are objects that are described in catalogue descriptions as highly important or extraordinarily important.
  • Attributed - A cataloguing term where the item in the opinion of the cataloguers, is a of the period of the artist, craftsman or designer, and which probably in whole or part is the work of that person.
  • Roundel - A roundel is a circular disk, medallion or border on a plate or dish, on an object of furniture. A plate or dish will often have a central circular bordered decoration, termed a roundel. In furniture the word is often used instead of the word 'patera' to describe a turned circular decoration. In recent times use of the word has expanded to encompass any circular area on an object.

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