TAKEN FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE ANTIQUE BREADBOARD MUSEUM, PUTNEY:
A unique family board commissioned by the Sophia Child-Villiers with two Earl’s coronets, top and bottom, distinguishable by the five lofty rays topped by balls, and complimented by four letter Js, one on either side, in mirror image, resembling vines. ‘Middleton’, carved twice in elegant Gothic lettering, refers to the Villiers family’s country seat of Middleton Park in Middleton Stoney, Oxfordshire.
An article entitled ‘Potato Bowls’ on p.368 in the Art Union Journal of 1848 reads: “Among the bread-platters which Mr Rogers continues to carve in considerable quantities, we may mention a number which have been produced for special positions: such as one of exquisite finish for the Duke of Richmond, inscribed in ornamental letters with the word “Glenfiddich”; a second for the Countess of Jersey with the family name “Middleton”; and a third, more remarkable than the rest, for Sir Robert Menzies, having, in Saxon characters, the motto, “VIL GOD I ZAL”.”
There is considerable wear to the surface and rim, with worm damage, 13″,
limewood, 1848.
Breathing new life into antique breadboards 