2-995-739 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Doncaster Cup, 1860. 'This Cup...has been designed to illustrate the ballad of the birth of St. George, [by] Bishop Percy...It is not too much to say that the artist has thoroughly succeeded in obtaining a perfect keeping between the vase and the poem...We have not a Gothic legend illustrated by a Greek design, but we have, in truth, the spirit of an Anglo-Norman legend carried out and portrayed upon an Anglo-Norman vase...Around the body four oblong panels bear upon them: the dream of the mother of St. George; the interpretation of that dream; the death of the knight's mother; and the deliverance of the princess by St. George. On two oval medallions in the centre are: The conquest of the dragon; and Lord Albert about to question the weird lady. The handles are formed by the great winged dragon, and upon the summit of the vase is a figure of St. George victorious...The lily, the cross of Christianity, and certain mystic figures enrich the body...It is Pre-Raphaelite in its tendency...The work is of oxidised silver, and is mounted upon a scagliola base, upon which the name of the race and the stewards are prominently placed. It has been modelled and designed by Mr. H. Armstead, and executed by Messrs. Hunt and Roskell, of Bond-street'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.