Accession Number

2015.018.001a

Description

Silver frame with repoussage art nouveau design with green and blue enamelled flower details- two in each of the bottom corners, one small one on each side and two on the top centre. Back is green leather. Glass is a prop.

Narrative

This hallmarked silver picture frame was made in 1903 by Synyer & Beddoes of Birmingham, England. It was made for Challoner and Mitchell Jewellers, Victoria BC (marked on interior). The frame is intended to be displayed in vertical format and features a repoussage art nouveau-inspired design highlighted with four blue and green enamelled flowers. The frame was missing its original picture glass when acquired in 2015. It holds its original photographic print of John Cowper Bryden (1848-1915) with two dogs that was taken circa 1905.

History of Use

This frame and photograph was used by John Cowper Bryden (1848-1915) on Vancouver in his retirement residence called Dalzellowlie in Esquimalt. It was next used by his son, John William Bryden (1869-1953), known to his family as “Poppy”, at his Gartley Beach house near Royston, Vancouver Island (near Cumberland and Courtenay). It was next inherited by his son, Gerald Robert Bryden (1913-1992) and used at Royston, B.C., and then by his daughter, from whom it was acquired by The Castle Society.

Date

1903

Dimensions

23 cm x 17 cm

Material

Metal, silver; Leather; Glass

Technique

Embossed; Enamelled; Repoussed

School/Style

art nouveau

Country of Origin

United Kingdom