The Battle of the Amazons. Rosewater or sideboard dish. Designer and chaser: Antoine Vechte (1799-1868). Manufacturer: Elkington and Co. Circa 1851. Electro-type, gilt and oxide. 28 inches diameter with the outer moulded border. Private collection, Paris, France. [Photograph and text by the owner.]
The model was produced for and exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, where
Elkington were awarded a Council Medal. Sometimes incorrectly referred to as a
shield, it is usually found without the outer moulded border and lion heads.
(See image from an un-dated XIXth century Elkington & Co. Catalogue of 'Works of
Art').
«Among the many legends which clustered around the story of the mythic Theseus,
the King Arthur of Grecian history, that of his conquest of the AMAZONS, and of
his bearing away their leader, Hippolyta, to be his Athenian bride, is, perhaps,
the most notable.»
Last modified 7 March 2012