Flagon
19th century, after 1606 original
Medium
Silver on base metal
Dimensions
Height: 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Electrotype
Culture
British, Birmingham, after British, London original
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1883
Accession Number
83.18.21
Art Historical Context
This elegant flagon, a 19th-century electrotype reproduction by the Birmingham firm Elkington & Co., faithfully recreates a lavish 1606 original from London. Standing at 12½ inches tall, it exemplifies Jacobean metalwork with its ornate silver-on-base-metal surface, capturing the grandeur of early 17th-century British craftsmanship. Flagons like this were prized vessels for serving wine or ale during banquets and ecclesiastical rites, symbolizing status and hospitality in Tudor-Stuart England. Elkington & Co., pioneers of electroplating in the Industrial Revolution, revolutionized decorative ...
About the Artist
Elkington & Co. · 1829–1963
Elkington & Co. was the Birmingham firm that transformed the production of decorative metalwork by commercializing electroplating — a process that made silver-quality objects accessible to a vastly wider public. The company was established by George Richards Elkington (1801–1865) and his cousin Henry Elkington during the 1830s, initially trading as G. R. Elkington & Co. A crucial turning point cam...