3-008-347 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The cover of a carved ivory box, 1862. 'Our Engraving represents a beautiful specimen of the art of turning in ivory, the lid of a box presented by Mr. Holtzapffel, the eminent turner of Charing-cross, to the Turners' Company, one of the City guilds. We are all familiar with the fantastically-carved boxes of Chinese manufacture. This specimen, rivalling the Oriental work in ingenuity, vastly surpasses it in geometric truth. It is one of the finest productions of the lathe that England has produced. The intersection of the ovals produces the pattern, and the mathematical precision of the pattern can only be obtained by the most perfect lathes. We hail it as an instance of the vitality of the City guilds, whose office in future is the encouragement of their respective crafts and the progress of manufacturing skill. The doctrines of monopoly and exclusion have perished; but the presidency of a court in every trade having in view the improvement of the members and the products of the trade is an institution which society may yet recognise as valuable'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.