โAmenโ glasses gained their name from the Jacobite verses engraved on them, which invariably end with the word Amen. The verses vary in detail but are a distortion of โGod save the Kingโ. A typical example, in part, is:
God save the King I pray
God Bliss the King I pray
GOD SAVE THE KING
Send him Victorious
Happy & Glorious
Soon to Reign Over Us
God Save the King
God Bliss the Subjects All
And save both great and small
In ev’ry Station
That will bring home the King
Who has blest Right to Reign
It is the only thing
Can Save the Nation
Amen
Sources
Wills, G. (1976). A concise encyclopedia of Antiques.
More Design Terms
-
Capitalisation rules – the basics
If you have ever read an old newspaper (early nineteenth century) and you look carefully at the old broadsheets.ย You will notice that words are capitalised here and there and that the rules of capitalisation, some of which you will learn shortly, seem nonexistent.Read More →
-
Dada Art Movement – Making Mischief
As a designer, I am passionate about the history of art and their influence on ‘visual design.’ย In art history, Dada is the artistic movement that preceded Surrealism, it began in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1916 by a group of mostly painters and painters.ย Dada artworks challenged the preconceivedย notions of what art meant.ย Many Dadaists felt that the way to salvation was through political anarchy, the natural emotions, the intuitive and the irrational.Read More →
-
Brandewijnskom – brandy bowls for birth ceremonies
Brandewijnskom. Brandy bowls were made in Holland and Friesland in the 17th and 18th centuries.Read More →
-
Affichiste French for Poster Designer
Affichiste. Name (literally ‘poster designer’) taken by the French artists and photographers Raymond Hains (1926-) and Jacques de la Villeglรฉ (1926-), who met in 1949 and created a technique to create collages from pieces of torn-down posters during the early 1950s. These works, which they displayed for the first time in 1957, were called affiches lacรฉrรฉes (torn posters). Read More →
-
Minimalism – Less is More
Minimalism is an art historical and critical term. The purest forms of minimalism include cubes and spheres, plain, unadorned surfaces, and solid colours. Adolf Loos’ famous quote, “Ornament is a Crime,” has become catchphrases for the minimalist design movement.Read More →
-
‘Moderne’ Style of Art Deco Popular in the 20s & 30s
Moderne was a decorative style that was mostly about how things looked on the outside. Moderne architecture was most noticeable in public buildings like skyscrapers and movie theatres. Postmodernism later brought back a lot of the styles that were part of the moderne movement.Read More →
-
Slipware Pottery – what is it?
Slipware is pottery known by its primary decorating method in which slip is added before firing by dipping, painting or splashing on the leather-hard clay body surface. Slip is an aqueous clay body suspension that is a combination of clays and other minerals, such as quartz, feldspar, and mica.Read More →
-
Achilles Shield – Dictionary of Silverware
A silver-gilt convex shield with a sizable central medallion depicting the shield of encrusted iron made by the god Hephaestus for Achilles at Troy, as it is described by Homer in Book 18 of the Iliad. The medallion, which depicts in high relief a figure of the Sun (Apollo) standing in a quadriga (a chariot drawn by four horses), is within a broad border decorated with a continuous frieze.Read More →
-
Academic Style – Dictionary of Silverware
A style of decoration, developed in the United States, based on the copying of earlier English and French styles. The style was in the tradition of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, the designs being precise and academic. It was introduced to flatware in the 1880s, initiated at the Gorham Company and occurs in hollow ware from the late 1880s, its use continued into the 1920s.Read More →
-
Ablution basin – ๐ Dictionary of Silverware
Ablution basin. A type of basin for holding water intended: (1) in ecclesiastical usage, for rinsing the hands or some object of church plate, such as a chalice; or (2) in secular usage, for rinsing the fingers at the dinner table (sometimes called a rose-water basin). Its founder donated two ecclesiastical ablution basins in 1515-16 to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Bishop Richard Fox. See alms dish.Read More →
-
Anatomy of a Hallmark ๐ค
A hallmark is a symbol or device struck at an assay office on gold or silver, indicating that article conforms to legal standards of manufacture established by the monarch, local guilds, government etc. Literally, mark applied at Goldsmith’s Hall (London assay office since 1300) but extended to cover e.g. all five stamps found on Victorian silver until 1890: assay office mark specific to each assay office; Read More →
-
Pedestal Table inspired by ๐๏ธ classical architecture
A pedestable table is originally the base support of a column, in classical architecture. A pedestal in furniture may have one of four definitions: Read More →
-
Lithography (Design Term)
A method of printing from a design drawn directly on a slab of stone or other suitable material. The design is not raised in relief as in woodcut or incised as in line engraving, but drawn on a smooth printing surface. Initially, this surface was provided with a slab of unique limestone, but metal (usually zinc or aluminium) or more recently plastic sheets were prefered because they are less bulky.ย Read More →
-
The Symbolism of flowers
For millennia, and among almost every culture, flowers and trees have been adopted as symbols, type and emblems of human groups and affiliations.ย The “War of the Roses” the red and white roses which were the badges of Lancastrian and York rivals to the English throne.Read More →
-
Basse-taille – Design Term
Basse-taille is a method for enamelling the graves or graves low-reliefs on a metal surface,Read More →
-
Functionalism a design and architectural principle
With his motto โform follows function,โ American architect Louis Sullivan is considered the founder of 20th-century Functionalism. Functionalism became a label for an extremely wide variety of avant-garde architecture and design in the first half of the 20th century, including Ludwig Mies van der Roheโs classical Rationalism, Erich Mendelsohnโs Expressionism, Giuseppe Terragniโs unadorned, heroic structures, Frank Lloyd Wrightโs organic architecture, and Le Corbusier’s Cubist solids. Read More →
-
Rya – Finnish Weaving Process
Eva Brummer set up a studio in Helsinki in 1929 to revive the technique, which involves cutting the pile unevenly in order to create a thick relief effect. As rugs, the weavings became popular in the 1950s and were closely identified with the exuberant Scandinavian Modern style.Read More →
-
Ceramics a gift from the ancients
Ceramics are objects made of moistened clay, shaped and then baked. All ceramics are Earthenware, terracotta, brick, tile, faience, majolica, stoneware, and porcelain. Ceramicware is decorated with clay inlays, relief patterns on the surface, or incised, stamped or embossed designs. Read More →
-
Fibreglass exciting early design medium
Known as glass-enhanced plastic (GRP) in Britain, fibre-enhanced plastic (FRP) in the USA or by the trade name fibreglass (after the manufacturer Fibreglass Ltd.), GRP has been used for a wide range of applications from car body panels and boat hulls to furniture and tennis rackets. Read More →
-
What is the Pantone Colour Matching System?
The Pantone Colour Matching System is a system for identifying, matching and communicating colours across product design, graphic design and marketing. It utilises a unique numbering system for identifying its colours.Read More →