Doe and Hope

Description

The large olive green glass bottle of flattened globular form with a kick-up base and hand-painted gilt armorial crest to one side and a tavern scene to the other survives from the mid-Georgian period.

There is some expected wear to the armorial and more so to the tavern scene with some chipping but much of depiction survives, whilst structurally the bottle is very sound with no cracks or chips. She stands true enough though has a slight lean forwards as she sits.

The gilt painted armorial is lavish and widely spread and covers an entire single side. There is a gilt bordered band running down the seam of the bottle and verso the pair of male figures are depicted sat conversing on a tavern table with pitchers of ale and are typically mid Georgian period dress, one can see a serving hatch and bottle in the background.

This large bottle has much of the chemists or apothecary shop about it in terms of its bulbous form and olive colour and the way it is painted, but the presence of the tavern scene to the other side, which is contemporary with the piece, means it is a tavern bottle used to house wine and help to essentially bring in and encourage trade in a Georgian public house. An apothecary bottle of this period would not have simply featured an armorial, nor would it be double sided.

Bottles don’t come much larger, more original or more decorative than this.