A Victorian parcel-gilt silver testimonial centrepiece, designed by Henry Hugh Armstead RA, Hunt & Roskell, London, 1859

modelled as a triumphal column, the base decorated with a band of palm leaves below the names of artists, with three winged putti supporting medallion portraits of Michelangelo, Titian and Cellini with three further heraldic medallions between, leading to the column flanked by three maidens representing painting, sculpture and the decorative arts, the stem patterned with roses, shamrocks and thistles and a line from John Keat's Hyperion ('A thing of beauty is a joy forever'), topped by an an infant Prometheus fending off the eagle and holding aloft a torch to represent civilisation, on an ebonised wood plinth, together with an album of the gold and silverwork at the 1862 International Exhibition, and a framed print by Robert Loudan of the opening of the exhibition.

87.5cm, 34½in. high (on plinth)

7023gr., 226oz