SHAKESPEARE INTEREST. A CHIP CARVED WOOD SPECTACLE CASE

SHAKESPEARE INTEREST. A CHIP CARVED WOOD SPECTACLE CASE

LATE 18TH / EARLY 19TH CENTURY

possibly mulberry from the tree at New Place, Stratford, the lid with the bust of Sir William Shakespeare and two crests on a foliate lattice ground

13.3cm wide

Catalogue Note

During the 18th century, there was an informal tourist industry in Stratford with people visiting Shakespeare's tomb and the mulberry tree he supposedly planted at New Place. However, the then owner, Rev. Francis Gastrell, became annoyed by the growing number of visitors and sometime in the 1750's felled the tree and later demolished New Place. Objects carved from the mulberry tree first started to appear around 1760 / 1770, after Gastrell sold the wood to local carvers and turners, for example: Thomas Sharp and George Cooper, eager to make souvenirs. At this period of 'bardolatry' drinking vessels, tea caddies, tobacco stoppers, goblets, small boxes or caskets, and similar objects carved from the wood were highly prized.