Furniture, Works of Art & Clocks - 12th January 2022
Lot 246
SHAKESPEARE INTEREST. A CHIP CARVED WOOD SPECTACLE CASE
Estimate £150 - £200 | Hammer £250
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Description
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.