Bird, Fish & Animal – Smelling bottles

Cameo blank as it appears before any cameo carving is undertaken. Thomas Webb & Sons. Image courtesy of The Met Fifth Avenue, New York.

White over ruby cameo carved scent bottle in the form of a Swan's head. Registered design 11109, dated 12/08/1884. Scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons. The registration number sometimes appears in the cameo decoration or engraved. Variations in the carving perhaps indicates different artists at work. Also produced in white over yellow, white over blue and other colours (see below).

White over yellow cameo carved scent bottle in the form of a Swan's head. Registered design 11109, dated 12/08/1884. Scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons.

White over blue cameo carved scent bottle in the form of a Swan's head. Registered design 11109, dated 12/08/1884. Scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons. The registration number is sometimes engraved on the Swan's head scent bottle.

White over Ivory cameo carved scent bottle in the form of a Swan's head. Registered design 11109, dated 12/08/1884. Scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons. This bottle appears to be made with the "Old Ivory" mix used in the production of "Ivory cameo".

Flint scent bottle in the form of a Swan's head. Engraved detail in the Rock Crystal style. Registered design 11109, dated 12/08/1884. Scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons.

White over ruby cameo carved scent bottle in the form of an Albatross. Also produced in white over yellow and other colours see below. Registered design 16828, dated 13/11/1884. Shape of scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons. This shape is also often described as a Falcon or Eagle.

Ruby over ivory cameo carved scent bottle in the form of an Albatross. Registered design 16828, dated 13/11/1884. Shape of scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons.

White over black cameo scent bottle in the form of an Albatross. Registered design 16828, dated 13/11/1884. Thomas Webb & Sons.

Peach Bloom gilt scent bottle in the form of an Albatross. Registered design 16828, dated 13/11/1884. Shape of scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons. Peach Bloom is a heat sensitive glass containing gold. (See https://antiquestourbridgeglass.co.uk/hot-decoration-home/heat-sensitive/gold-based-content/6/ ) This colour is often inaccurately called Peach Blow which is an American name given to ruby shaded ware of similar appearance.

Ruby gilt scent bottle in the form of an Albatross. Registered design 16828, dated 13/11/1884. Shape of scent bottle. Thomas Webb & Sons. This bottle is described by Corning Museum of Glass as a "Falcon perfume" marked "Rd 16888".

Ivory gilt scent bottle in the form of an Albatross. Registered design 16828, dated 13/11/1884. Thomas Webb & Sons.

White over ruby toilet bottle shaped in the form of a "Heron with Eel". Executed by William Northwood to a Frederick Carder design. Pattern 9808, book 09, dated 12/05/1885. J & J Northwood for Stevens & Williams. The design is based on Frederick Carder sketches from the Louvre Museum c. 1885.

White over ruby cameo scent bottle in the form of a dolphin. Image courtesy of IBPA. This scent bottle is attributed by IBPA to Daniel Pearce of Thomas Webb & Sons and reference the registered design number 18109. This registration was taken out, together with 18108, by Sampson & Mordan, both on 3 December 1886 for "Shape of perfume bottle". The designs of Daniel Pearce do show rock crystal designs with this "Palissy" style of dolphin but no bottle. However, in a sketch book of Frederick Carder there are sketches of Palissy ceramics in the Louvre Museum, Paris, dated 1883. The similarity of one sketch to the dolphin bottle is too great to rule out Carder as an alternative designer. The sketch is shown in an earlier sketch book to that containing the "Heron and Eel" sketch which Carder used to create an identical scent bottle at Stevens & Williams. It is perplexing that Thomas Webb & Sons, who registered the designs of the other bottles, should defer to Sampson & Mordan in this case; unless they were not the manufacturer.

Amber with aventurine, gilded, fish scent bottle. Decoration by Oscar Pierre Erard. Stevens & Williams, pattern 9692, book 09, dated 03/04/1885.

White over ruby cameo carved fish. Probably Thomas Webb & Sons.

White over yellow cameo carved Pike. Probably Thomas Webb & Sons.

Ruby over topaz Pike with intaglio cut details. Probably Thomas Webb & Sons.

Opal fish enameled green with gilt scales and fins. Registration number RD15711 enameled on base. Thomas Webb & Sons, Rd., dated 23rd October 1884. Decoration by Jules Barbe. This Rd is found on two different shaped fish. Image courtesy of A&M Museum Texas.

Blue crystal fish with cut details. Thomas Webb & Sons, pattern 14854, dated c. 1884. The flint version has the registered design number 15711 engraved on the glass. This Rd is found on two different shaped fish.

Cased brown (possibly ruby over green) over yellow scent bottle in the form of an alligator's head.