John Sandon
Consultant
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Lot 253*
A Thomas Webb and Sons three-colour Gem Cameo vase by George Woodall, circa 1890
18 May 2016, 10:30 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £37,500 inc. premium
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A Thomas Webb and Sons three-colour Gem Cameo vase by George Woodall, circa 1890
of rounded cylindrical shape overlaid in white and amethyst on an aquamarine ground, carved with a maiden in a diaphanous dress, her arms raised to untie her flowing hair, standing among tall reeds and grasses and beneath berried branches, the scene flanked by slender, shaped panels of flowers and butterflies, a border of cobwebs around the neck of the vase, formal borders and a frieze of flowers at the base, signed among the grasses 'G Woodall', 21.3cm high, etched mark Thomas Webb & Sons Gem Cameo (small restuck chip on the footrim restored)
Footnotes
In their book English Cameo Glass (1980), Ray and Lee Grover reproduce drawings from the Thomas Webb & Sons pattern Books. The Grovers record two examples of the present subject, one 7 1/2ins white on brown and another 8 1/4ins white on blue which is probably the present lot. The drawing of the smaller vase is reproduced on p.257 as fig.S3 and shows the same figure within different borders. This drawing, which is designated with the Woodall number W2803 is also reproduced in a small reprint by Richard Dennis Publications, shown on p.20 (top). The hand-writing of the title on this drawing is ambiguous. The Grovers interpreted the title as 'Cloelia'. Christopher Woodall Perry interprets it as 'Cloches' and clearly identifies two versions. One is W1538 and this is given as 8 1/4 inches white on blue. A later example, W2803 is 7 1/2 inches white on brown, for which Woodall received £5.7s.6d and the selling price was 15 guineas.
Perry suggests W1538 is the example now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and shown by Perry on p.28 where it is captioned as being 8 1/2inches. The present lot is either a third version of this subject, or else this is W1538 and the Metropolitan's example is a third, unlisted specimen. A possible companion vase to the present lot, with a different female figure but identical in other respects, was in the Gossett collection and is illustrated by Grover, op cit, p.57, fig.57.
The title as written in the Thomas Webbs Price Book is probably intended as 'Cloches' and is most unlikely to be 'Cloelia'. Cloelia, a classical heroine is usually depicted on horseback. Cloches in French means Bells and the maiden depicted is lifting her hair from over her ears so that she can hear distant bells ringing.