Victorian Silver Engraved Garden Scene Vinaigrette Bronte / Lind?

A fine and rare Victorian silver Vinaigrette of shaped oval form with bands of engine turned decoration and a vacant shield shaped cartouche to the base. The lid engraved with a scene of a lady and two gentlemen in a garden scene with a swan swimming on a pond in the foreground. The hinged lid opening to reveal a gilded interior with intricately pierced foliate scroll grille.

By Frederick Marson, Birmingham 1847.

Possibly inspired by either Jenny Lind or Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre) ? 1847 was a significant year for both of these popular ladies.

The Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind (1820-87) was already well-known in Europe but became famous in Britain after her performances in London in May 1847, about six months before the Bronte sisters' first novels were published. The arrival on these shores of Jenny Lind In April 1847 was met with great excitement and a wave of 'Lindmania' spread throughout the country. It has been compared with the Beatlemania of the 1960s and a large portion of the population became caught up in it. Even Victoria, Queen of England, was a fan of Jenny Lind, who was often referred to as 'The Queen of Song'. In 1847-9, Jenny Lind's name was given to a greyhound, a racehorse, a yacht, a schooner, railway engines, hospital wards and many commercial products including silver Snuff Boxes and Card Cases.

Similar adulation surrounded Charlotte Bronte after the publication of her first novel "Jane Eyre", in October 1847.

£1,150.00