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Toy: The word ‘toy’ in the seventeenth and eighteenth century did not really carry the same implications as it does today. ‘Toys’ were not usually seen as playthings but as works of collectable art for adult appreciation. The notion of the doll’s house as a serious adult pursuit was taken up in Holland in the seventeenth century before it migrated to England. The Museum’s silver miniatures represent this area of collecting.

Cup

Silver-gilt and semi-precious stones

Origin: London

Date: 1914-1915

11.7 cm diameter of bowl; 11.3 cm height; 360 g weight

Marks/Maker: London, sterling standard, 1914-5, maker's mark of Carl Krall

Provenance: Walter Stoye

Anonymous gift, 1993; WA1993.296

T. Schroder (2009), no. 53

This cup is a close variant of one designed by the architect William Burges (1827-1881) for his own use and made by the silversmith Charles Hart in 1862. The circumstances in which the Museum's cup was made are not known but the line of its 'descent' from Burges himself is clear. It is said to have belonged originally, or at an early date, to Walter Stoye, who had been apprenticed to Carl Krall and later became managing director of Barkentin and Krall Ltd. Krall's partner, Jes Barkentin, was the goldsmith most closely associated with Burges.

Information derived from T. Schroder, British and Continental Gold and Silver in the Ashmolean (2009)

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