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The Labels |
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Aspects of Labels Wine or decanter labels identify the contents of decanters and bottles - wines, spirits, sauces, toilet waters and medicinal preparations. These labels are made of materials such as silver, silver plate, enamel, china or mother-of pearl, but not paper labels designed to be stuck on bottles – that is a separate field of collecting. The majority of labels studied or collected by members are made from silver, various forms of silver plate and enamel. They date from about 1730 to the present day, although the most prolific period of production was 1770-1860.The study of labels can take many forms, including the great variety of designs, the multiplicity of names on labels, the silversmiths and other makers, and the place of manufacture. We illustrate some of these themes below. Wide Variety of Designs Decanter labels first appeared in the 1730s, were hugely popular for more than a century between 1730 and 1860 and are still made today. This has resulted in an enormous variety of shapes and designs. Indeed, one of the attractions of labels is that they reflect the changing styles and designs seen in larger items of silver. We illustrate below examples of these changing styles of silver labels. Early labels - 1730-1770: Early labels show the rococo influence which governed artistic taste in the 1730’s, and their design incorporates in miniature the scrolls, the festoons and the cherubs that mark rococo work in other fields. From this early period come plainer designs too, narrow rectangles, crescents and escutcheons, the latter sometimes plain, sometimes flat chased with grapes and vine leaves as in the example below.
--------------- Neo-classical - 1770-1800: As the taste for classical form gained favour in the 1770’s under the influence of the Adam brothers, silver designs reflected the change, and wine labels followed suit. They were produced in a vast abundance of elegant shapes, so that the last three decades of the century can with some justification be called the great age of wine labels, or certainly the most elegant.
--------------- Regency - 1800-1830: The taste for sumptuous table silver, encouraged by the Prince Regent, affected silver – and label – design at the start of the nineteenth century and there was a fashion for casting for the heavily ornate pieces that came into fashion at this time. We show two examples, both cast labels, from the workshop of the Royal goldsmiths, Garrards; both labels bear the mark of Robert Garrard, the senior partner of this major firm. While we do not show them, it should be remembered that plain, simple labels also continued to be popular.
--------------- Victorian - 1830-1900: A wide variety of designs appeared in Queen Victoria’s reign and this is reflected in the many different designs seen in wine labels of the period, though the numbers fall off markedly after 1860. We illustrate two designs: the single vine leaf first appeared as a design around 1820 and became immensely popular in Victorian times; the pierced Garrard cartouche has a very Victorian feel, though lighter in design than many Victorian labels.
-------------- Modern - 1900-2007: More recently silversmiths have been producing striking designs as evidence that this article of silver still survives as an elegant way of identifying the contents of decanters and as an example of the continuing freshness of design and skill of the silversmith. The CHATEAU LANGOA BARTON label is from Wyard Druitt, whose website www.decanter-labels.com shows a full range of attractive labels of today.
_____________ Numerous Names on Labels Over 2,300 names of wines, spirits and liqueurs have been recorded on labels, over 500 names of sauces on sauce labels - smaller versions of wine labels - and names too of liquids such as toilet waters and medicinal products. As well as popular wines such as Madeira, Sherry and Port, there are variations such as Malmsey Madeira and Dry Madeira, misspellings and variations such as Madiera, Madere and Madeiry. There are wines known little or not at all today such as Esperan and Paxarette, a sweet white Spanish wine (illustrated below). Spirits include Whisky, Brandy and Gin and also slang titles such as Old Tom and Mother's Ruin for Gin, Cream of the Valley for Whisky. Sauce names include Soy, Cayenne and Tarragon and unusual names such as Harvey, Sauce Royal and, illustrated below, Cherekey (a variation of Cherokee Sauce)
_____________ Place of Manufacture Silver labels first appeared in London in the 1730s and this was the main, almost the only, centre of production for several decades. However the fashion, and the manufacture, began to spread to cities such as Chester, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh and across the Irish sea to Dublin and Cork. Following the establishment of assay offices in Birmingham and Sheffield, both became major centres of production. Later, labels were made outside Britain and Ireland, though only in limited numbers. We show below two labels to represent the spread of labels, one from Edinburgh with a typical Scottish family crest within a buckle and a dragon label from China
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