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The antique
marks glossary - antique terms w covering everything from wagner
to wedgwood to worcester.
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From wagner to wedgwood to worcester, below you will find antique
terms w and related words meanings, dates, associations and images.
The
list is not exhaustive but we will add to it as time goes by. The
descriptions detailed are only intended to be relevant to how the
word or term relates to antiques and although the same word may
have other meanings in other contexts, we have not and do not intend
to detail those meanings here. In some instances we have included
pictures to enhance the meaning of the word or term and we have
also indexed each word in order that you may link to the explanation
when the word or term appears in other pages on the site.
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Dutch cabinetmaker and one of the foremost designers in the
cotswolds school set up in 1894 by sydney barnsley, ernest barnsley
and ernest gimson. Also connected with the arts and crafts movement.
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A
german porcelain modeller who, fed up of imitating 18thC. figures,
produced figures of sporting girls and others in contemporary
dress. Artistic director of the nymphenburg porcelain factory
from 1906-1909, and also produced models for the berlin porcelain
factory.
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wagner (architect - designer - art
& crafts - 1841-1918)
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Viennese
architect and furniture designer. Pioneer of functionalism whose
work influenced other key designers such as, Josef Hoffmann
and Adolf Loos. From 1899 a member of the vienna secession.
Wagners furniture is distinguished by its lack of ornamentation,
its functional quality and the combined use of metal and wood.
Some of his bentwood designs were produced by the thonet brothers.
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wainscot
(glass - ceramic - scalloped border)
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A
wood panel or a furniture with panelled work. Also -- a medieval
term used to describe oak suitable for wagon (wain) construction,
and straight grained oak suitable for panelling. Also -- wainscot
bed; a bed with solid panels at its head or foot. Also -- wainscot
chair; a panel-backed chair.
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waiter
(silver - salver - tray)
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A
small flat salver of silver or silver-gilt, used for the formal
offering of , letters or visiting cards. Large, heavy, oblong
or oval silver salvers evolved into what we know as trays in
the 18thC.
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The
earliest items of bohemian glass, dating from the 14thC, were
made from waldglas, a crude, mould-blown product which used
wood as a source of potash for the flux.
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wall
clock (clocks & watches - lantern
- girandole)
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The
general term for a weight or spring-driven clock designed to
be mounted on the wall. types include the cartel clock, the
lantern clock, the girandole, the tavern clock and the regulator.
Also -- hooded wall clock, which has a hood that can be lifted
off from the wall-mounted movement. Also -- Wall dial, a georgian,
victorian or edwardian spring-driven timepiece with a circular
dial in a wooden surround.
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A
ceramic or glass vase designed to hang on the wall and hold
flowers. Popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Usually, but
not always in the form of a flat-backed cornucopia.
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walnut
(wood - rich grain - solid furniture)
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A
close grained hardwood with a rich grain pattern. Took the place
of oak as the most favoured wood for furniture-making about
c1660 and before the introduction of mahogany in the 1720s.
Tudor england used the european species for high-quality solid
furniture. European walnut became scarce after severe weathe
rin france c1709, and the darker american walnut was used throughout
the 18thC.
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A
french art nouveau and art deco glassmaker. Specialised in opaque
pate-de-verre pieces, such as sculptural ornaments, ashtrays
and small dishes, in greens, yellows and turquoise. Often decorated
his pieces with insects, small reptiles and sprays of berries.
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waltham
(clocks & watches - manufacturer
)
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American watch company and the first to mass-produce cheaper
watches for the general public. Established in the 19thC, and
working with the Swiss industry began the decline of the exclusive
british watch trade.
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Scottish architect and designer of metalware, textiles, furniture
and glassware. A member of the glasgow school, that established
the british version of the art nouveau style. Produced polished
iron and copper candlesticks and chandeliers typical of the
art nouveau. Furniture designs, some for liberty, resembled
18thC forms with high backs and strong vertical lines.
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Also
known as a chronoscope, a watch introduced around 1675, where
the hour is displayed through a semicircular arc in the dial.
The hour numeral is carried on a rotating disc, and takes one
hour to move around the semicircle then disappears from view
behind a decorated cover. It is then replaced by the next hour
numeral. The scale for the minutes shows on the edge of the
semicircle. Stopped appearing around 1730, although there are
are 20thC versions around.
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A
glass-sided case that resembles a miniature greenhouse. Used
for growing display plants indoors, such as ferns or some tropical
species. Victorian term that comes from naturalist nathaniel
ward, who brought botanical specimens home from his travels
using a similar case. Also -- domed wardian cases which were
mounted on stands and popular decoration in victorian parlours.
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wardrobe (furniture
- freestanding cupboard)
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The
19thC name used to describe a large, freestanding cupboard used
for hanging for clothes. Prior to the 19thC clothes were stored
in presses (cupboards).
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A,
usually round, lidded container made from copper or brass, with
a long handle. The pan held hot coals, hot charcoal, or hot
water and was used to warm the bed. Popular in the 16thC then
replaced in the 19thC by metal or stoneware hot water bottles.
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A
multi-legged stand used to support a washbasin, Common furniture
from the 18thC. Larger models, sometimes with marble or tiled
tops, and a cupboard for a chamber pot became popular in the
19thC.
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A
portable clock provided for checking the times when night patrols
reach certain points during their rounds. At certain positions
a numbered registering key is fastened to the wall. The key,
when inserted in the portable recording clock, causes the number
of the location and the time of day to be recorded on a paper
roll or disk inside the clock. Also called a tell-tale clock.
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a
disc of paper placed inside a watch in the 18thC to record the
watchmaker or repairers name. Usually placed at the back of
an open faced watch or inside the outer pair case..
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watch
stand (clocks & watches - ceramic
- display stand)
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A
small display stand made of cermaics, wood or metal and used
to hold a watch during the night or to stand on a table and
emulate a clock.
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A
clock whose mechanism is run by the regular flow of water from
one container to another. Based on the clepsydra, an ancient
timekeeping device, and revived in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Many reproductions or copies, with false signatures and dates,
produced in the 1920s and 30s.
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Decoration
on ceramics, furniture and other ornaments. On furniture the
gilding is applied by floating the gilding to the recieving
surface, on water. Water gilding can be burnished but is water
soluble and prone to flake.
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Translucent
water soluble pigments are mixed with a preparation of gum and
dissolved in water before being transferred to paper.
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waterford
(glass - irish town - lead crystal)
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Irish
glass company producing glass at waterford from 1729. Their
flint glass was superseded 1783 by fine-quality lead crystal
for which waterford in now is best known. First factory closed
in 1851 and a new factory opened in 1951 producing traditional
waterford styles of lead crystal glasses, bowls and decanters.
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An
early 19thC curved chair leg that resembles a sabre blade. Closely
identified with the regency period. Also called a sabre leg
and referred to as a Waterloo leg after the Battle of Waterloo
in 1815.
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A
doll with head, and sometimes limbs, made of bleached beeswax.
Popular from c1750-1930. The solid wax may have been carved
into shape or a liquid wax poured into a mould. The eyes are
either painted or small black beads stuck on with a drop of
molten wax. Also -- wax-composition referring to a wax coating
over a composition base; colour can be applied to the base itself
prior to the wax coating, or directly onto the wax.
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way wiser (scientific
- distance measuring instrument )
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A
wheeled device for measuring distances over the ground. Prior
to 1840, used by the Post Office to measure postal routes, when
the charge for sending letters was based on distance. The device
was pushed along and the distance was recorded on a brass dial
beneath the handle.
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philip webb (designer
- arts & crafts - william morris - 1831-1915)
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British
architect and furniture designer, linked with william morris,
Webb designed jewellery, glass, metalwork and embroidery for
morris's decorative arts firm. Webbs designs were highly influential
in the arts and crafts movement.
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A
Family firm of glass-makers based around stourbridge in worcestershire,
since the early 1830s. Noted , in the 19thC for engraving and
fine cameo glass From 1886 it also made burmese glass. The company
closed in 1991.
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Josiah
Wedgwood (July 12, 1730 – January 3, 1795) was the English
potter, credited with the industrialisation of pottery manufacture.
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 He
was a member of the darwin wedgwood family that, most famously,
included his grandson, Charles Darwin.
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Josiah
was raised within a family of English Dissenters. He survived
a childhood bout of smallpox to serve as an apprentice potter
under his eldest brother Thomas Wedgwood IV.
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Smallpox
left Josiah with a permanently weakened knee, which made him
unable to work the foot pedal of a potter's wheel. As a result,
he concentrated from an early age on designing pottery rather
than making it.
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Wedgwood
died in 1795 but his company is still a famous name in pottery
today as part of Waterford Wedgwood, and wedgwood china is the
common term for his jasperware, the blue or green china with
overlaid white decoration, still common throughout the world.
He was an active member of the Lunar Society and is remembered
on the Moonstones in Birmingham.
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His
home Etruria Hall built between 1768 and 1771 by Joseph Pickford,
was restored as part of the 1986 Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival
and is now part of a four-star hotel.
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wedgwood
(ceramics - manufacturer - staffordshire
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Wedgwood
is a British pottery firm, originally founded by Josiah Wedgwood
c1795, and possibly the most famous name ever associated with
pottery. 
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It
merged with Waterford Crystal in 1987 to become Waterford Wedgwood.
The
factory was a pioneer of new products such as those modelled
by William greatbach, and coloured with lead glazes developed
by Wedgwood during his partnership with the Staffordshire potter
Thomas whieldon. The factory developed creamware, known as Queen's
Ware in honour of Queen Charlotte, that rivalled porcelain throughout
Europe in the 1760s and 70s and competed with the endless supplies
of chinese export porcelain. Other landmarks included a fine
red stoneware known as rosso antico, black basaltes and the
jasperware that came to be the company's best-known product.
By the mid-18thC its products ranged from brooches and snuffboxes
to statuettes, plaques and tablewares. It was widely copied
and it exported all over Europe and the USA. The companys successes
in the 18thC maintained styles into the 19thC, when the emphasis
shifted from handcrafted pottery to the production of bone china
and majolica. 20thC designers included Keith murray, voysey
and eric ravilious .
Josiah
Wedgwood (1730-1795) also the patriarch
of the Darwin Wedgwood family, founded the company and many
of his descendants were closely involved in the management
of the company down to the time of the merger with the Waterford
Company.
 John
Wedgwood (1766–1844) eldest
son of Josiah I, partner from 1790 to 1793, again from 1800
to 1812.
Josiah Wedgwood II (1769-1843)
second son of Josiah I, succeeded his father as proprietor
in 1795 and introduced the production of Wedgwood bone china.
Josiah Wedgwood III (1795-1880)
son of Josiah II, partner from 1825 until he retired in 1842.
Francis Wedgwood (1800-1880)
son of Josiah II, a partner from 1827 and sole proprietor
following his father's death until joined by his own sons.
Financial difficulties caused him to offer the firm and the
family home etruria hall, for sale soon after taking over
the factory but fortunately for the company, only the hall
was sold. He continued as senior partner until his retirement
to Barlaston Hall in 1876.
Godfrey Wedgwood (1833-1905)
son of Francis Wedgwood, partner from 1859 to 1891. He and
his brothers reintroduced bone china c1876 and employed of
the artists Thomas Allen and Emile Lessore.
Clement Wedgwood (1840-1889)
son of Francis Wedgwood, partner.
Laurence Wedgwood (1844-1913) son of Francis
Wedgwood, partner. 
Major Cecil Wedgwood DSO (1863-1916) son
of Godfrey Wedgwood, partner from 1884, first Mayor of the
federated County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent (1910-1911). Chairman
and managing director of Wedgwood until his death in battle
in 1916.
Kennard Laurence Wedgwood (1873-1949) son
of Laurence Wedgwood, partner. In 1906 he went to the United
States and set up the firm's New York office, which became
Josiah Wedgwood and Sons USA, an incorporated subsidiary,
in 1919.
Francis Hamilton Wedgwood (1867-1930) eldest
son of Clement Wedgwood, chairman and managing director from
1916 until his sudden death in 1930.
Josiah Wedgwood 1st Baron Wedgwood (Josiah
Wedgwood IV), (1872-1943) -- son of Clement Wedgwood. He was
a distinguished Labour Party (UK) politician and Member of
Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme for 36 years until elevated
to a seat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords by Winston
Churchill in 1942.
Josiah Wedgwood V (1899-1968) son of Josiah
Wedgwood IV, the Managing Director of the firm from 1930 until
1968 and credited with turning the company's fortunes around.
He was responsible for the enlightened decision to move production
to a modern purpose built factory in a rural setting at Barlaston.
It was designed by Keith Murray in 1936 and built between
1938 and 1940. He was succeeded as managing director by Arthur
Bryan who was the first non-member of the Wedgwood family
to run the firm.
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An
early 19thC british chest of drawers with six to twelve shallow
drawers. Used for storing coins or other small articles. A hinged
flap overlaps the drawers on one side and is fitted with a lock.
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Wemyss
ware (ceramics - fife - heron)
Cheerfully decorated pottery produced at the Fife pottery near Kircaldy
in Scotland, 1880-1930, and imitated elsewhere. It is distinguished
by brightly coloured underglaze motifs of flowers, fruit, berries
and birds. A wide variety of products were made including table ware,
especially jam pots; useful ware such as jugs and washbasins; and
novelty products such as doorstopper pigs. |
whatnot
(furniture - stand - victorian)
A lightweight, compact stand with three or more shelves on which to
put knick-knacks, books or ornaments. Whatnots appeared towards the
end of the 18thC, and continued as drawing-room features throughout
the Victorian era. In Victorian times a whatnot was known as an omnium
and the French equivalent is an étagère. |
wheel
barometer (scientific - robert hooke)
A mercury barometer in which the mercury tube is concealed in the
back of the case and the reading is taken from a dial like a clock
face. As the mercury rises and falls with air pressure changes, a
weighted cord, connected by a pulley to a float resting on the surface
of the mercury, causes the pointer wheel to move. The British scientist
Robert Hooke is credited with its invention in the mid-17thC, but
few were made until the mid-19thC. |
wheel
lock (militaria - firing - doghead)
A firearm ignition system developed in the early 16thC. A metal wheel
with a roughened edge was rotated by a spring mechanism. A piece of
pyrites, gripped by the doghead, was pressed against it. When the
trigger was pressed the wheel rotated against the pyrites, generating
sparks which ignited the gunpowder. The wheel lock made it possible
for loaded weapons to be carried safely as the doghead could be pulled
clear of the pan containing the gunpowder. |
wheel
of life (toys - victorian)
See zoetrope. |
thomas
whieldon (ceramics - potter - 1719-95)
Influential master potter at Fenton Low, Staffordshire, c1740-80.
The modellers Aaron Wood and William Greatbatch, and Josiah Spode
were among Whieldon's apprentices, and Josiah Wedgwood was his partner,
1754-8.
Ralph
Wood (in c.1730) was apprenticed to John Astbury, and he later
worked with Thomas Whieldon at Fenton Low, learning the manufacture
of coloured glazes. Aaron Wood was apprenticed with Thomas Wedgwood
Jr. from 1731 to 1746, when he left to work with Whieldon. He
opened his own pottery four years later.
Whieldon
produced salt glazed ware, agate ware and the cream-coloured earthenware
which was later perfected by Josiah Wedgwood.
1719
Thomas Whieldon was born at Penkhull
1740 Opened a small pottery in Fenton Low in a range of low thatched
buildings.
1746 Aaron Wood started work with Whieldon.
1748 Whieldon bought Fenton Hall from the bankrupt John Peate
along with the adjoining potworks.
1749 Thomas Whieldon built an addition to his works, were hs partner
wedgwood, carried on his business.
1750 In addition to pottery, he owned a number of plots of land
in Fenton, associated with Fenton Hall.
In
1749, when Josiah Spode I was about 16, he was apprenticed to
Thomas Whieldon. Spode stayed with Whieldon until 1762 when he
went to work for Turner and Banks.
1754-59
Josiah Wedgwood I was in partnership with Whieldon who was to
teach him so much about clay and making pottery
1780
Whieldon finished potting and retired on his fortune estimated
at £10,000.
1786 Appointed High Sheriff of Staffordshire.
1795 Thomas Whieldon died in March 1795
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white
gold (metalware - precious metal - gold alloy)
An alloy of gold with either platinum or with zinc and nickel. White
gold was a popular setting for diamonds in the late 19thC. It is similar
in colour to platinum; the two metals can only be distinguished by
an acid test. |
white
metal (metalware - soft metal - not sterling silver)
A soft, base metal alloy, often abbreviated to 'WM', which was used
for inexpensive commemorative medals, especially in the 19thC. When
preserved 'as new', the material looks attractive but it is susceptible
to wear and corrosion. 2 Trade term sometimes used to describe silver
which is below the sterling standard and cannot by law carry a British
hallmark. |
whitework
(textiles - embroidery - broderie anglaise)
Any cutwork embroidery in white thread on a white or natural ground,
such as ayrshire work and broderie anglaise. |
wiener
werkstatte (design - workshop - vienna)
On 19th May, 1903 the Wiener Werkstätte, German Vienna Workshop
was registered in Vienna as "Productivgenossenschaft von Kunsthandwerkern".
Founded
by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser, both members of the Vienna
Secession to provide an outlet for graduates from the Kunstgewerbeschule.
The workshop was involved in jewellery making, the production
of fabrics, furniture construction, ceramics and other art forms
which could be incorporated into daily life and Hofmann incorporated
these designs into his architectural projects.
 In
1905, Hoffmann, Klimt and the Wiener Werkstätte artists,
designed and built the magnificent Palais Stoclet, for the Belgian
industrialist Mr Stoclet, in Brussels, the Capital of Art Nouveau
and city of Victor Horta.
The
Wiener Werkstätte pursued elegance, a reduced vocabulary
of form, functionality and appropriateness, which stood in contrast
to the pronounced imitation of styles of Historicism. The
result were : simplified shapes, geometric patterns, and minimal
decoration characterising the Wiener Werkstätte products.
The
majority of designs were supplied by famous artists, including
Carl Otto Czeschka, Josef Hoffmann, Bertold Löffler, Dagobert
Peche, and, of course, Koloman Moser.
It
struggled constantly with a weak financial and the Wiener Werkstätte
was closed down in 1932.
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wig
block (furniture - wig stand)
A head-shaped piece of wood on a stand to hold a wig, or a smaller
rounded top on a longer-stemmed wig stand. |
a.j.
wilkinson (ceramics - potter - clarice cliff)
Staffordshire pottery at Newport which employed art potter Clarice
cliff and other leading artists of the 1930s. From 1929 the pottery
mass-produced Cliffs designs alone. |
david
I willaume (metalware - silver - 1658-1741)
huguenot silversmith who worked in London using many techniques and
designs which were far advanced. His pieces are individualistic -
a large teapot decorated with three rows of cut-card work is typical
and ranged from salvers and cutlery to elaborate tableware. His son
David Willaume II (1693 -1761) took over the business in 1716. For
a time the two silversmiths were thought to be one and the same. |
william
and mary (style - british - 1689-1702)
British decorative arts style linked with the reign of King William
III and Queen Mary (1689-1702). |
willow
(wood - wickerwork - dowels)
Strong yet soft, white to pinkish, flecked wood. Because of its long
fibres, it was used for the dowels in early joined construction. The
young shoots have long been used for wickerwork. In the 17th and 18th
centuries it was sometimes dyed black to imitate ebony. |
willow
pattern (ceramics - chinese pattern - blue &
white)
A Chinese-influenced pattern, based on a Chinese legend but designed
in Britain, which was widely transfer-printed on pottery and porcelain
tableware in underglaze blue. It was first engraved by Thomas minton
for the caughley pottery in Shropshire c.1780, and much imitated,
even by the Chinese. |
wilton
carpets (carpets - british - ingrain)
Early carpets produced in Wilton, Wiltshire, from the late 17thC,
were ingrain carpets, made using a flat-weave technique with a bulky
texture. In 1740, narrow Brussels looms were set up by two former
savonnerie weavers to produce moquette carpets in competition with
kidderminster manufacturers. In 1769, Blackmore& Son combined
the Wilton and axminster businesses. The Wilton industry increased
in the 1840s, making luxury hand-knotted as well as machine-made carpets.
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windsor
chair (furniture - chair - yew)
Term applied to a chair with a solid wooden seat with sockets into
which turned legs and back and arm spindles are fitted. The term has
been in use since c. 1724, but its origin is uncertain, as this type
of chair was not confined to Windsor, Berkshire, but made in many
provincial areas. A variety of timbers was used, sometimes all in
the same chair, such as beech for the turned members (legs and spindles),
elm or sometimes yew for the seat, and ash, elm and some fruitwoods
for the bentwood parts. Yew examples are the most desirable today.
High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was a leading centre of Windsor chair
production by the early 19thC. |
wine
cistern (furniture - wine cooler)
A container for holding several bottles of wine, also known as wine
fountain. They were made of marble or various metals and woods, but
in the 18thC were often mahogany bound in brass, lined with lead and
were watertight, in order to hold ice. A wine cooler holds a single
bottle in ice, and is usually made of ceramics, or in sheffield plate
or electroplated silver. |
wine
funnel (ceramics or silver - sieve)
A funnel sometimes with a curved spout and a sieve for separating
sediment, used for decanting red wine from the 17th to 19th centuries.
The funnels are found in silver, porcelain, pewter or silver plate.
Late 28th and early 19th-century examples are smaller and plainer
than those made after the 1820s. |
wine
table (furniture - after dinner drinks)
1 Semicircular table sometimes with a pivoted arm and coaster fitted
to the inside curve which could be swung across to pass wine to fellow
drinkers. Wine tables were used for after-dinner drinks around the
hearth from the late 18th to early 19th centuries, hence the alternative
names of social or fireside tables. 2 A small table with a galleried
top to hold decanters and clean glasses, and notches cut out of the
rim where dirty glasses can be hung by the foot. |
wine
waiter (furniture - table or cupboard)
Table on castors with partitioned top for holding wine bottles, used
in the 18thC to circulate wine during a meal. Some wine waiters incorporate
a cupboard. |
wing
chair (furniture - chair - 17thC)
Upholstered chair with wings extending either from the upper part,
or from the whole length of the back in order to protect the occupant's
head from draughts. Wing chairs were first introduced during the latter
part of the 17thC. |
ralph
wood (ceramics - potter - 1715-72)
One of a famous family of staffordshire potters to whom many Staffordshire
figures, often of provincial characters, and flatwares are attributed
- although sometimes on rather slim documentary evidence. Many toby
jugs and rustic groups with in-glaze colour are attributed to Wood
and his son, also Ralph (1748-95). |
samuel
wood (metalware - silversmith - 1704-94)
Prolific London-based silversmith, a specialist in cruets and casters.
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thomas
and george woodall (glass - cameo glass)
Two of the most important of late 19th and early 20th-century British
cameo glass carvers, trained by John north wood and then employed
by Thomas webb & sons of Stourbridge. Their joint works are rarely
signed ‘T &l G Woodall’ and are in Victorian Classical
style, although George in particular had a talent for figure compositions.
His early work was hand-carved, while later pieces were worked with
an engraver's wheel. In the late 19thC, the brothers headed a team
of up to 70 craftsmen producing inkwells, candlesticks, door panels,
scent bottles, plaques and vases. |
woodcut
(painting & prints - print - woodblock)
A print formed from a design carved in relief on the plank surface
of a woodblock. The background is cut away leaving the design raised,
and it is this which receives the ink. The inked design prints and
the background remains free of ink. In a wood engraving, the design
is cut into the endgrain surface so that the background is in relief
and takes the ink, and the engraved design shows white on the finished
print. |
work
table (furniture - tool table - victorian)
A small table with a bag or box suspended beneath the top in which
to store articles related to the use of the table - such as needlework
or chess pieces. Work tables date from the early 19thC, and were popular
in the Victorian era. |
wreathing
(ceramics - hollow ware - spirals)
Spiral ridges of slightly increased thickness on the inside of some
hollow-ware, shaped, on the wheel, by the potter's fingers. |
wrigglework
(metalware - pewter - silver decoration)
Zigzag pattern used on British pewter and silverware in the 17th and
18th centuries. An engraving tool was pushed over the surface at a
45° angle, while rocking or turning the object. |
frank
lloyd wright (architect designer - decorative
arts - 1867-1959)
US architect and designer whose work had a widespread impact on 20thC
decorative arts...... more |
wrotham
ware (ceramics - slip ware - kent)
Slipware produced by a group of potteries in Kent c1612-1712. The
coarse reddish body of the pieces was coated with white clay slip,
decorated with slip-trailed swirls or stamped motifs and then covered
with a yellowish lead glaze. Candlesticks were a speciality and tygs
and other vessels survive, some with the name of potters such as Nicholas
Hubble, John Green and George Richardson inscribed. |
wrought
iron (meatalware - william
morris - arts & crafts)
Ironwork that is drawn and worked into elaborate shapes on an anvil
while hot. It is not as hard or brittle as cast iron and is used for
objects such as grilles, screens, garden furniture, candle-holders
and andirons. Wrought iron has been made since ancient times. In the
late 19thC, William morris, a central figure in the arts and crafts
movement, encouraged the use of decorative wrought ironwork in Britain,
a pattern echoed throughout Europe. One of the finest exponents was
the French designer and metalworker Edgar brandt. |
wrythening
(glass - decoration - ridged)
Spiral or diagonal ridges, fluting or reeding especially fashionable
on 17th-19thC glass. It is also found on furniture, pewter and silver
- the top of a wrythen-top spoon is a spirally fluted oval. |
wucai
(ceramics - chinese - 5 colour)
The Chinese term for a porcelain palette consisting of five colours
(wu is the Chinese word for five). The design is not outlined in
underglaze blue (as in doucail). Wucai was formerly spelt wu-ts'ai.
After
firing the piece at a low temperature, red, green, yellow, blue,
and purple enamels are applied to the white ware. Wucai has been
popular since the early Qing Dynasty
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wyon
family (meatlware - die engravers)
A family of gifted and prolific coin and medal engravers who dominated
British die engraving during most of the 19thC.
The
Wyons are one of the most celebrated and talented coin and medal
engravers in England. Their period of activity extends from before
the middle of the eighteenth century to almost the end of the
nineteenth century. Tradition has it that Peter George (II) Wyon
came to England from Cologne, Germany, during the reign of King
George II. He brought with him a boy who grew up to be George
(III) Wyon. George (III) Wyon has two sons, Thomas (I) and Peter,
both of whom distinguished themselves as medallists and engravers
of dies for coinage. Peter was the father of William Wyon, the
most famous of the Wyon family of artists. William, in turn, was
the father of Leonard Charles Wyon. Thomas (I) had a son, Benjamin,
a medallist in his own right, and Benjamin had two sons, Joseph
Shepherd and Alfred Benjamin, both of whom became medallists.
Alfred Benjamin Wyon (1837-1884) was the second
son of Benjamin Wyon , and brother of Joseph Shepherd and Allan
Wyon. He was a student in the School of Painting at the Royal
Academy and learned the art of die engraving under his father.
He became Chief Engraver of the Seals in 1873, a post he retained
until his death. Alfred Benjamin Wyon, who attained great eminence
as an engraver and medallist, collaborated with his brother Joseph
Shepherd in the die sinking business, making many medals together,
including some for the Corporation of the City of London.
Benjamin Wyon (1802-1858), the second son of
Thomas Wyon the elder, received a major portion of his instruction
from his elder brother, Thomas Wyon the younger. He succeeded
his father as Chief Engraver of the Seals in 1831.
Joseph Shepherd Wyon (1836-1873) was the eldest
son of Benjamin Wyon. He studied in the schools of the Royal Academy,
where he distinguished himself. 
In
1858 J.S. Wyon was appointed Chief Engraver of the Seals, in succession
to his father. He made many medals alone and some in collaboration
with his brother Alfred Benjamin.
William Wyon (1795-1851), the most celebrated
of the Wyon family of medallists, was the eldest son of Peter
Wyon, with whom he apprenticed.
In
London, he aided his uncle Thomas Wyon the elder in engraving,
and shortly after was chosen to fill the post of second engraver.
 When
the chief engraver, Thomas Wyon junior died, Pistrucci, the noted
gem engraver and favorite of the Master of the Mint, was appointed
to the vacant office.
William
Wyon resented this nomination and differences arose between the
two artists. A compromise was reached when Wyon was made Chief
Engraver and Pistrucci received the designation of Chief Medallist.
According
to Forrer, Wyon’s head of Queen Victoria used on coinage,
by combining beauty of design and perfect execution, received
universal approbation and still ranks as one of the noblest productions
in the British numismatic series
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