The genesis of this post was a request by the owners to undertake research into a life size but distressed cast of an Hound of the Alcibiades in a garden in Gloucershire anf for advice in its restoration. I had no hesitation in recommending Messrs Coade of Wilton who had carried out several restorations for me.
Dog of Alcibiades
The restoration was carried out by Messrs Coade of Wilton, Wiltshire using all the original pieces. All rusting ferrous metal inside the legs and in any other interior areas of the sculpture where metal was found was removed.
The sculpture was reconstructed as a whole using A4 marine-grade stainless steel pins and cramps internally across all broken sections.
The restoration also included the
addition of a plinth block to raise the sculpture above any ground water and to
provide extra structural integrity.
https://coade.co.uk/restorations/dogofalcibiades/
The Dog Before Restoration.
Images below from Messrs Coade website.
......................
The Patent for Portland cement (Joseph Aspdin 1824).
It would appear that Felix Austin was one of the first to recognise its potential for use in Garden Ornament without using a material which required firing in a kiln.
One of the main thrusts for binder development was to develop binders which had the strength and qualities of Parker’s Roman cement (Patent 1796) but with a colouring that could be described as matching natural stone such as Portland stone.
Felix Austin was a prominent manufacturer of English garden ornaments in composition stone. He was active in London from before 1827 until 1850.
Having from 1826 worked with marble, in about 1828 he bought moulds or dies from a bankrupt company he had acquired, Van Spangen and Powell, which had manufactured artificial stone.
For the van Spangens see my post - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-van-spangens.html
Around 1840 Felix Austin merged with John Seeley and
renamed the firm Austin and Seeley. In 1872 Seeley late Austin and Seeley was still in existence.
...............................
John Seeley (1789 - c. 1870) had trained at the Royal Academy
Schools and sculpted sevral funeral monuments, as well as making an artificial stone,
which he called ‘ artificial limestone’.
John Seely - (1789 - 1870)
Austin was in business as an “Artificial Stone Ornament Manufacturer” by 1826 at the latest, and had held a sale of a large quantity of stock, as well as the leasehold of some premises in Albany Street Regents Park in June 1827.
He was more than a maker of garden
ornaments. According to Ray Desmond’s Dictionary of British Botanists and
Horticulturist he was originally a
nurseryman, whilst trade
directories describe him as an
architect, statuary mason and sculptor.
............................
Page 237 from The Gardener's magazine and register of rural & domestic
improvement - 1826.
Pub. by Loudon, J. C. (John Claudius).
Loudon also recommends Austin's Chimney pots on page 554.
Clipping from the Morning Advertiser – Wednesday 13 June 1827.
The Gardeners Magazine 1831.
The Architectural Magazine Vol I - 1834.
.............................
Advertisement from The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal - 1835.
https://archive.org/details/SelectSpecimensOfAustinSeeleysWorksInArtificialStoneManufactory/mode/2up
It appears that john Seeley died in 1870 because adverts appear in early 1871 selling off stock from “the late firm of Austin and Seeley …which had stood through the present winter.”
Whatever remained was eventually
auctioned off, without reserve in 1877.
.................
Austin and Seeley - the end.
Clipping from John Bull - 19th
November 1881.
.........................
of Tangential Interest.
At some future juncture I will expand on John Liardet and his 1773 patent Oil Render / Stucco.
The use of Liardet’s stucco by Robert and James Adam is fairlly well known and the dispute with the architect John Johnson, about alleged infringement of the patent because of the pamphlet warfare which occurred in 1778 and because it was for many years regarded as a leading case in patent law.
But Liardet v. Johnson presided over by Lord Mansfield was only the first of three major lawsuits which embroiled the brothers between 1777 and 1787.
Although they were successful it
was a pyrrhic victory. By 1780 the deficiencies in the stucco were becoming
apparent. The brothers faced a major claim for damages from Lord Stanhope and
their agreement with Liardet collapsed in recrimination.
...................................
Portland Cement - for an excellent introduction tothe subject see -
https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cement.html#parker
For Parker's Roman Cement - patented 1796.
https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cemkilndoc006.html
He does not refer to it as artificial stone.
.............................
In France, a material similar to "Roman" Cement
was prepared co incidentally in 1796 by burning and grinding a type of beach pebble found in the
vicinity of Boulogne. These were of septaria from the Kimmeridge Clay.
The first recorded suggestion that the “artificial”
limestone could be made by inter-grinding chalk and clay to a slurry is that of
Vicat in 1817: he and numerous other continental manufacturers used the
technique to make hydraulic limes. Vicat’s artificial hydraulic lime remained
in production into the twentieth century. In Britain, the main objective was to
emulate rapid-setting "Roman" Cement, and several patents were issued
for formulation of low-lime slurried mixtures. Of these, the most important was
that of Frost.
.....................
Portland Cement and Artificial Stone.
Joseph Aspdin patented his "Portland Cement" in
1824 (Patent No 5022: granted 21 October, enrolled 18 December). The text
follows:
Specification for Artificial Stone.
A.D. 1824 No. 5022.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of
October, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Aspdin, His especial
licence, that I, the said Joseph Aspdin, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Aspdin, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODES OF PRODUCING AN ARTIFICIAL
STONE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Joseph Aspdin, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in his Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said part recited Letters Patent (as in and
by the same), reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I,
the said Joseph Aspdin, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to say):-
My method of making a cement or artificial stone for
stuccoing buildings, waterworks, cisterns, or any other purpose to which it may
be applicable (and which I call Portland cement) is as follows:- I take a
specific quantity of limestone, such as that generally used for making or
repairing roads, and I take it from the roads after it is reduced to a puddle
or powder; but if I cannot procure a sufficient quantity of the above from the
roads, I obtain the limestone itself, and I cause the puddle or powder, or the
limestone, as the case may be, to be calcined. I then take a specific quantity
of argillaceous earth or clay, and mix them with water to a state approaching
impalpability, either by manual labour or machinery. After this proceeding I
put the above mixture into a slip pan for evaporation, either by heat of the
sun or by submitting it to the action of fire or steam conveyed in flues or
pipe under or near the pan till the water is entirely evaporated. Then I brake
the said mixture into suitable lumps and calcine them in a furnace similar to a
lime kiln till the carbonic acid is entirely expelled. The mixture so calcined
is to be ground, beat, or rolled to a fine powder, and is then in a fit state
for making cement or artificial stone. This powder is to be mixed with a
sufficient quantity of water to bring it into the consistency of mortar, and
thus applied to the purposes wanted.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Aspdin, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
JOSEPH (L.S.) ASPDIN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid Joseph Aspdin came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
............................
http://romanportland.net/files/doc/seminar2008/simon_swann_seminar2008s.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment