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104-566: In 1898, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed to the British Museum as the Waddesdon Bequest the contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor . This consisted of a wide-ranging collection of almost 300 objets d'art et de vertu , which included exquisite examples of jewellery, plate, enamel, carvings, glass and maiolica . One of the earlier objects is the outstanding Holy Thorn Reliquary , probably created in

208-407: A lag , where both simultaneously hit a cue ball up the table, bouncing it off the top cushion so that it returns to baulk (the first quarter-length of the table). The player who gets their ball closer to the baulk cushion can now choose which cue ball they want to use during the game and to break or let the opponent break. The red ball is placed on the spot at the top of

312-501: A Gothic style, and as is typical for northern Europe several of these come from well into the 16th century, and should be considered as belonging to the Northern Renaissance . However the most important medieval object, and arguably the most important single piece in the collection, though from the late Gothic period, has nothing strictly Gothic in its style, and represents a very advanced court taste in this respect. This

416-526: A lantern with a tiny Crucifixion inside, was made in 16th-century Mexico, and from comparison with other pieces may originally have included Mexican feather work , a Pre-Columbian art whose craftspeople the Spanish missionaries employed in workshops for export luxury objects. The collection includes an eclectic group of objects of very high quality that predate the Renaissance. The oldest objects are

520-571: A Jewish burial society in Bratislava , as a Hebrew language inscription records. Apart from pieces purely in metal, a number are centred on either hardstone carvings or organic objects such as horns, seashells, ostrich eggshells, and exotic plant seeds. These "curiosities" are typical of the taste of the Renaissance Age of Discovery and show the schatzkammer and the cabinet of curiosities overlapping. A different form of novelty

624-465: A classical facade, or perhaps a theatre stage with scenery; the decoration is mostly damascened iron, and is 16th-century Milanese work. Apart from the older woodcarvings discussed above, the bequest includes a number of small mostly German Renaissance portraits as carvings in wood, either in relief or in the round. These are of very high quality and include two miniature busts by Conrad Meit of Philibert II, Duke of Savoy , who died young before

728-608: A different tradition going back to pieces such as the Carolingian Lothair Crystal , also in the British Museum. In 1902 Read's catalogue suggested that "It is to this section that in all probability most eyes will be attracted, as well for the beauty of the specimens as for their rarity and consequent cost"; if this was the case then, it is probably not so a century later. Some pieces are now regarded as 19th-century, or largely so, and Reinhold Vasters ,

832-444: A fashion at the time. The group demonstrate little interest in gemstones and pearls for their own sake. Although such pieces have survived more often than styles emphasizing gem stones and massy gold, which were typically recycled for their materials when fashion changed, the demand from 19th-century collectors greatly exceeded the supply of authentic survivals, and many pieces include much work from that period (see below). For many of

936-438: A goldsmith are rarer than paintings by Giorgione . In his 1902 catalogue Charles Hercules Read mentions that many of the pendants had been attributed to Cellini, but refrains from endorsing the attributions. A small silver hand-bell (WB.95) had belonged to Horace Walpole, who praised it extravagantly in a letter as "the uniquest thing in the world, a silver bell for an inkstand made by Benvenuto Cellini. It makes one believe all

1040-538: A huge amount of time by highly skilled silversmiths was added. The Aspremont-Lynden set in the bequest is documented in that family back to 1610, some 65 years after it was made in Antwerp , and weighs a little less than five kilos. Though the Waddesdon Bequest contains two very important medieval objects with enamel, and much of the jewellery and decorated cutlery uses enamel heavily, the great majority of

1144-489: A key centre for Romanesque champlevé enamel. Her highly visual story is told in several scenes that use a wide range of colours, with the rest of the front face decorated in the "vermicular" style, with the space between the figure filled with scrolling motifs on a gold background. According to legend, St Valerie was a cephalophore saint, who after she was beheaded carried her own head to give to her bishop, Saint Martial , who had converted her. There are many more objects in

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1248-539: A new foot in metalwork in Europe, as here. There is also a large mosque lamp with enamelled decoration from the late 14th century. Romanesque art is represented by an unusually large Limoges enamel reliquary in the common chasse shape, like a gabled house. This was made in about 1170 to hold relics of Saint Valerie of Limoges , a virgin-martyr of the Roman period who was the most important local saint of Limoges ,

1352-715: A number of copies. He was later convicted of other forgeries, and died in prison in 1879, but it was still not realised that he had returned one of his copies of the reliquary to the Imperial collections instead of the original, and later sold the original, which is now in the bequest. One of the copies remained in the Ecclesiastical Treasury of the Imperial Habsburg Court in Vienna, where the deception remained undetected for several decades. In

1456-435: A number of other objects, including a few guns, swords and military or hunting equipment. There is also a German brass "hunting calendar" with several thin leaves that unfold. These include recessed lines filled with wax, enabling the keen hunter on a large scale to record his bags of wolf, bear, deer, boar and rabbit, as well as the performance of his dogs. There is a small cabinet with 11 drawers (plus other secret ones) made as

1560-460: A pair of large snake-handled vases, nearly two feet (60   cm) high, painted with mythological scenes, to which French ormolu bases and lids were added shortly before they were bought in Paris by Horace Walpole for the "Gallery" at Strawberry Hill House in 1765–66. Ormolu mounts were often added by 18th-century collectors to such pieces, but few have remained in place. The collection includes

1664-456: A pocket after striking the opponent's ball; and the player conceded three points if the cue ball was pocketed without even hitting the opponent's ball. These rules continued to exist in English billiards until 1983, when a standard of two points for all fouls was introduced. By contrast, in the losing game a player could only score two points by pocketing the cue ball through a carom off

1768-539: A scene of battling horseman in the centre, within a frame, around which are four further frames containing allegorical female figures, the frames themselves incorporating minute and crowded subjects on a much smaller scale from the Iliad and ancient mythology, inlaid in gold. Other major pieces are sets of a ewer and basin, basin in this context meaning a large dish or salver, which when used were carried round by pairs of servants for guests to wash their hands without leaving

1872-430: A set of four Hellenistic bronze medallions with heads projecting in very high relief, and round handles hanging below. These date to the century before Christ, and came from a tomb in modern Turkey, and were fixtures for some wooden object, perhaps a chest. The heads are identified as Ariadne , Dionysus , Persephone and Pluto . The carved agate body of WB.68 may be late Roman, and is discussed below. The Palmer Cup

1976-414: A space two or three inches across, and were a fashion among royalty and the wealthy; they were apparently made in the northern Netherlands. They seem to have often been suspended from belts, or formed part of a rosary ; others still have copper carrying cases. A trick of technique in making them is that the main carved scene is made on a smaller hemisphere, allowing access from behind, which was then set into

2080-535: A way to get some use from capital. Ferdinand records several complaints that his father did not make more use of his opportunities, but in his last years Anselm began to expand his collecting range, and it was he who bought both the Holy Thorn Reliquary and the Ghisi Shield . This golden age for collectors had passed by the time Ferdinand inherited his part of his father's collection in 1874, which

2184-421: Is an elaborate small locking casket with a framework of silver-gilt and gems, set with grisaille panels with touches of gold and flesh-tints. It represents the sophisticated court taste of about 1535, and was probably intended for a lady's jewels. Most such sets of enamel inserts have lost the settings they were intended for. The emphasis of the jewellery is very firmly on spectacular badges and pendant jewels of

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2288-533: Is an important early Islamic glass cup, made around 1200, in Syria or perhaps Egypt, and painted in enamels. In the same century it was given a silver-gilt and rock crystal stem and foot in France. Below a poetic Arabic inscription praising wine-drinking, a seated prince holding a cup or glass is flanked by five standing attendants, two playing castanets and the others holding weapons. As an early enamel-painted image

2392-429: Is moulded opaque Bohemian glass (WB.56) with a Triumph of Neptune , and is now dated to the late 17th century; it is also dichroic glass , which changes colour depending on whether it is lit from the front or behind. There is a very rare goblet in opaque turquoise glass with enamels (WB.55); this was to imitate or suggest a vessel in even more expensive semi-precious stone. The late 15th-century Deblín Cup with its cover

2496-486: Is no group for paintings, and WB.174, a portrait miniature on vellum in a wooden frame, is included with the jewellery, though this is because the subject is wearing a pendant in the collection. The collection was assembled for a particular place, and to reflect a particular aesthetic; other parts of Ferdinand Rothschild's collection contain objects in very different styles, and the Bequest should not be taken to reflect

2600-409: Is not made with any ball, this is a miss; 2 points are awarded to the opponent, who must play from where the balls have come to rest. If an opponent's cue ball is potted, it remains off the table until it is that opponent's turn to play, when it is returned to that player, who may play it in-hand from the "D". There is one exception to this rule: if the non-striker's ball is off the table as a result of

2704-570: Is one of a small group of vessels made in Murano , Venice in a German or Central European taste, drawing on metalwork shapes used there. It carries a later inscription in Czech urging that the health of the Lords of Deblín , near Brno , be drunk, and was probably the "welcome cup" of the castle there. The six pieces of painted Italian maiolica , or painted and tin-glazed earthenware, are all larger than

2808-420: Is represented by a table-ornament of a silver-gilt foot-high figure of a huntsman with a dog and brandishing a spear. There is a clockwork mechanism in his base which propels him along the table, and his head lifts off to show a cup, and he would have been used in drinking games . There are separate figures of a boar and stags for him to pursue, though not making a set; these can also function as cups. One of

2912-631: Is the Holy Thorn Reliquary , which was probably created in the 1390s in Paris for the Valois prince John, Duke of Berry , to house a relic of the Crown of Thorns . It is one of a small number of major goldsmiths' works or joyaux that survive from the extravagant world of the courts of the Valois royal family around 1400. It is made of gold, lavishly decorated with jewels and pearls, and uses

3016-515: The billiard mace in favour of the cue stick . There are a number of pocket billiard games directly descended from English billiards, including bull dog, scratch pool, thirty-one pool and thirty-eight. The last of these gave rise to the more well-known game cowboy pool . English Billiards was virtually unknown in the United States until 1913, when Melbourn Inman visited the US and played

3120-611: The Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Club (founded in 1908). In the 19th century and up through the mid-1950s, a common way for championship titles to change hands was by a challenge match . A challenge was issued to a championship title holder accompanied by stake money held by a third party. Up until the first organised professional tournament in 1870, all English billiards champions were decided by challenge. The first champion

3224-498: The Duke of Marlborough in order to build a property in which he could house his diverse collections. Between 1874 and 1889, architect Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur designed and built Waddesdon Manor , a 19th-century manor based on the 16th-century French Chateau de Chambord . He sought to 'revive the decoration of the eighteenth century in its purity, reconstructing the rooms out of old material, reproducing them as they had been during

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3328-547: The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars offered tremendous opportunities for collectors of the decorative arts of the medieval and Renaissance periods. These categories were valued very little by the art market in general, and metalwork was routinely sold for its bullion value alone. Some of the older objects in precious metal in the collection may have first been received by the family as part of banking transactions; ownership of such pieces had always been partly

3432-541: The Van Meegeren of Renaissance metalwork, is now held responsible in several cases. A wide low crystal vase with cover is engraved with the name of the Mughal Emperor Akbar , and was long thought to have been German, but sent out to India as a diplomatic gift, as the metalwork mounts are clearly European in style. It is now seen as an original, and exceptionally rare, Mughal crystal carving, to which

3536-483: The 1390s in Paris for John, Duke of Berry . The collection is in the tradition of a schatzkammer , or treasure house, (and is referred to as such by some writers) such as those formed by the Renaissance princes of Europe; indeed, the majority of the objects are from late Renaissance Europe, although there are several important medieval pieces, and outliers from classical antiquity and medieval Syria. Following

3640-471: The 16th century. Large pieces of metalwork in silver or silver-gilt make an immediate impression in the display, and these were designed to dazzle and impress guests when used at table, or displayed in rows on a sideboard with shelves like a modern bookcase or Welsh dresser . Many are very heavily decorated in virtuoso displays of goldsmiths ' technique; rather too heavily for conventional modern taste. They are certainly ostentatious objects designed to display

3744-482: The 1700s, the carom game added a red object ball to the two white cue balls, and dispensed with the pockets. This ball was adopted into the English game, which retained the pockets, and the goal was to cannon off both the red and the opponent's ball on a single shot, earning 2 points. This influence on the English game appears to have come about through the popularity of French tables in English coffee houses; London alone had over two thousand such establishments in

3848-414: The 17th century, but on the British Museum database in 2014 several were dated to the 19th century, and were recent fraudulent creations when they entered the collection, some made by Reinhold Vasters. Doubts have also been raised over a glass cup and cover bearing the date 1518 (WB.59), which might in fact be 19th-century. Eight pieces of silver plate were redated to the 19th century by Hugh Tait, and some of

3952-465: The 19th century a number of types of object were especially subject to major reworking, combining some original parts with those newly made. This was especially a feature of arms and armour, jewellery, and objects combining hardstone carvings and metal mounts. This was mostly done by dealers, but sometimes collectors also. Another object with a complicated and somewhat uncertain history is a two-handled agate vase with Renaissance-style metal mounts, which

4056-779: The Army Reservists' Home. In 1883, Ferdinand de Rothschild was High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire . He was adopted as a Liberal candidate for the London constituency of St George's in the East , but on being invited, he contested in 1885 another seat, at Aylesbury , which he won and held until his death. In 1886, over the issue of Irish Home Rule, he joined the Liberal Unionists and hosted meetings at Waddesdon Manor (where Joseph Chamberlain , Arthur Balfour and Lord Randolph Churchill were often guests) that led to

4160-556: The French Renaissance style of the exterior; the other rooms are in broadly 18th-century styles, and contain a magnificent collection of paintings and furniture centred on that century. The segregation of the collection was part of the concept of what has been called the "neo- Kunstkammer ", adopted by some other very wealthy collectors of the period. The Renaissance Room at what is now the Wallace Collection and

4264-598: The UK, although it has been eclipsed by snooker . The first governing body of the game, the Billiards Association , was formed in the UK in 1885, a period that saw a number of sporting bodies founded across the British sporting world. By the mid-20th century, the principal sanctioning body was the Billiards Association and Control Council (later the Billiards and Snooker Control Council), formed in 1919 by an amalgamation of

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4368-511: The average, and there are none of the dishes that are the most common maiolica shape. The earliest piece is a large statue of Fortuna standing on a dolphin , holding a sail, by Giovanni della Robbia , made in Florence about 1500–10. This is a rare representative of the Early to High Italian Renaissance in the bequest. The other pieces are from later in the 16th century. The most important are

4472-417: The balls must be respotted: red on its spot and opponent's ball in the centre spot, with the striker to play from in-hand. Matches held under professional regulations include a rule forcing the player to execute a shot in a way to have his cue ball cross the baulk line, heading towards the baulk cushion, once between 80 and 99 points in every 100 in a running break. If a foul occurs, two points are awarded to

4576-414: The bequest includes some Old Testament scenes, and compositions were very often drawn from German, French or Italian prints. Enamels were produced in workshops which often persisted in the same family for several generations, and are often signed in the enamel, or identifiable, at least as far as the family or workshop, by punch marks on the back of panels, as well as by style. Leading artists represented in

4680-446: The bust was made, and his Habsburg wife, Margaret of Austria . There are also some medallion portraits in very soft stone, that allows fine detail, and one allegorical scene attributed to Peter Flötner . Any collection formed before the 20th century (and many later ones) is likely to contain pieces that can no longer sustain their original attributions. In general the Waddesdon Bequest can be said to have held up well in this regard, and

4784-683: The centre the Holy Thorn Reliquary occupied its own pillar display. The new ground floor room at the front of the museum, opened in June 2015, returns the Bequest to a larger space and a more open setting. It is in the oldest part of the building and some later accretions to the room have been removed as part of the new installation. The design is by the architects Stanton Williams , and the project received funding from The Rothschild Foundation. Ferdinand de Rothschild Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (17 December 1839 – 17 December 1898), also known as Ferdinand James Anselm Freiherr von Rothschild ,

4888-426: The collection include Suzanne de Court , Pierre Reymond , Jean de Court , Pierre Courtois and Léonard Limousin . Enamels were made as objects such as candlesticks, dishes, vessels and mirrors, and also as flat plaques to be included in other objects such as caskets. The collection includes all these types, with both unmounted plaques and caskets fitted with plaques. The jolly grotesques illustrated at right are on

4992-796: The collection of Sir Julius Wernher were other examples formed in England over the same period. The neo- Kunstkammer aimed to emulate the collections formed during the Renaissance itself, mostly by princely houses; of these the outstanding survivals were the Habsburg collections in Vienna, Prague and Ambras , as well as the treasuries of the Green Vault in Dresden , the Munich Residenz and Kassel . Unlike those collections, contemporary and recent objects were not included. Baron Ferdinand

5096-460: The collection was moved in there in early 1896, less than three years before Ferdinand's death. Good photographs allow an appreciation of how the objects were displayed, in glassed cases and on open shelves around the walls, over doors, and over the small fireplace, which had an elaborate shelved chimneypiece in wood above. Several objects, including the Casket of Saint Valerie, were on tables away from

5200-576: The collection was shown in the rather small room 45, in a display opened in 1973. In 2015 the Bequest was moved to Room 2A, a new, larger gallery on the ground floor, close to the main entrance on Museum Street . Until the Chinese ceramics collection of the Percival David Foundation moved to the British Museum the Waddesdon Bequest was the only collection segregated in this way. Much of the collection consists of luxury objects from

5304-566: The collection, which under the terms of the bequest must be kept and displayed together, opened on 11 June 2015. The collection was started by Baron Ferdinand's father, Baron Anselm von Rothschild (1803–1874), and may include some objects from earlier Rothschild collections. For Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812) of Frankfurt , who began the prominence of the family, his business dealing in coins, "antiques, medals, and objects of display" preceded and financed his banking operations, and most Rothschilds continued to collect art. At least one of

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5408-714: The cup is extremely rare in Islamic glass, although similar images in Mina'i ware painted Persian pottery of the period are found. There are a handful of comparable early Islamic glass cups with enamel that have survived in old European collections, such as the Luck of Edenhall in the Victoria and Albert Museum , and others in the Green Vault in Dresden and the Louvre , and others are recorded in old inventories. Often these were given

5512-406: The early 18th century. One period advertisement read: "A very good French Billiard Table, little the worse for wearing, full size, with all the materials fit for French or English play". The three ancestral games had their British heyday in the 1770s, but had combined into English billiards, with a 16-point score total, by approximately 1800. The skill required in playing these games helped retire

5616-437: The end of his life, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild became increasingly concerned about the future of Waddesdon Manor', shown here in his quote from The Red Book : "A future generation may reap the chief benefit of a work which to me has been a labour of love, though I fear Waddesdon will share the fate of most properties whose owners have no descendants, and fall into decay. May the day yet be distant when weeds will spread over

5720-422: The extravagant encomiums he bestows on himself; indeed so does his Perseus. Well, my bell is in the finest taste, and is swarmed by caterpillars, lizards, grasshoppers, flies, and masques, that you would take it for one of the plagues of Egypt. They are all in altissimo , nay in out-issimo relievo and yet almost invisible but with a glass. Such foliage, such fruitage!" However Baron Ferdinand had realized that it

5824-513: The final stroke of the non-striker’s last turn. If the striker then makes 15 consecutive hazards, the non-striker's ball is spotted, after the fifteenth hazard, in the Middle of the Baulk-line or, if that spot is occupied, on the right-hand corner of the “D”, as viewed from baulk. It becomes a "line ball" and may not be played directly from baulk. If the cue ball is touching an object ball, then

5928-474: The formation of the Unionist- Conservative alliance. From 1896, he was a Trustee of the British Museum , a role suggested by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks and which led to his Renaissance collection being bequeathed to the British Museum after his death. This is now exhibited as the Waddesdon Bequest . Ferdinand de Rothschild died at Waddesdon Manor on his 59th birthday, thought to be

6032-605: The game against Willie Hoppe . By 1915 the game had become rather popular, prompting American billiard hall proprietors of the period to increase the number of English-style tables in their establishments. It also became favored in British colonies ; the game's longest-running champion was an Australian, Walter Lindrum , who held the World Professional Billiards Championship from 1933 until his retirement in 1950. The game remains popular in

6136-742: The garden, the terraces crumble into dust, the pictures and cabinets cross the Channel or the Atlantic, and the melancholy cry of the nigh-jar sound from the deserted towers" - Ferdinand de Rothschild, 1897 Miss Alice, in turn, bequeathed the estate to their nephew, James Armand de Rothschild . Following James' death, the manor passed to the National Trust , in a special arrangement where the Rothschild family remain involved. English billiards English billiards originated in England, and

6240-533: The instigation of Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks . Ferdinand recognized and welcomed the drift of high quality art into public collections, which had begun in earnest during his time as a collector. While most of his assets and collections were left to his sister Alice, the collection now forming the Bequest and, separately, a group of 15 manuscripts now in the British Library , were left to the British Museum. He had already donated some significant objects to

6344-528: The items that can be called "enamels" are in the French 16th-century style that was led by painted Limoges enamel , rather than the champlevé enamel for which Limoges was famous in the Romanesque period. The new technique produced pieces painted with highly detailed figurative scenes or decorative schemes. As with Italian maiolica, the imagery tended to be drawn from classical mythology or allegory, though

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6448-457: The jewellery. The Bequest was on display at the British Museum from 9 April 1900, in Room 40, which today contains the later medieval displays. An illustrated catalogue by Charles Hercules Read, who had replaced Franks as Keeper of British and Medieval Antiquities, was published in 1902. Photographs in the catalogue show a typical museum display for the period, with wood and glass cases spaced around

6552-476: The late Renaissance in what is known as the "Spanish Style" that was adopted throughout Europe between about 1550 and 1630, using gems together with gold and enamel to create dazzling tiny sculptures. These were originally worn by both men and women, but as a collection the Waddesdon group was chosen for display (and in a specifically male setting) rather than for wearing, except at the occasional fancy-dress ball,

6656-493: The latest taste, often drawing from designs made as prints and circulated around Europe, but there was also often a very conservative continuation of late Gothic styles, which persisted until they came to be part of a Neugotic ("Neo-Gothic") revival in the early 17th century. The largest object in the bequest with a specifically Jewish connection is a silver-gilt standing cup made in Nuremberg about 1600, but by 1740 belonging to

6760-470: The legendary Trojan, Brut . The jewel contains a miniature portrait of the king by Nicholas Hilliard , though for conservation reasons this is now removed from the jewel. Lyte wears the jewel in a portrait of 1611, showing a drop below the main oval set with three diamonds, which had gone before 1882. The front cover has an elaborate openwork design with James's monogram IR , while the back has very finely executed enamel decoration. One pendant, shaped like

6864-438: The main hemisphere. There are seven glass vessels in the collection, but a larger number of pieces in transparent rock crystal or quartz , a mineral that might easily be taken for glass. This was always a much more valuable and prestigious material, qualifying as a semi-precious stone. Needing very patient grinding and drilling , it is much harder to work than glass (though correspondingly less easy to break once finished), and

6968-418: The many figures in high relief are on the verge of Renaissance style. There are two German statues of saints in wood, about half life-size, from the decades around 1500, and a larger number of miniature boxwood carvings . These include "prayer nuts" of superb quality from around 1510 to 1530. These are small wooden "balls" which open up to reveal carvings of religious scenes that fit dozens of tiny figures into

7072-409: The middle and pyramid spots are occupied, it goes back on the spot. When potted from the middle or pyramid spot, it returns to the spot at the top of the table. After a losing hazard, play continues in-hand from the "D". When playing from in-hand, a striker must touch a ball or cushion out of baulk before striking a ball in baulk. If playing in-hand and all balls on the table are in baulk, and contact

7176-649: The most important objects in the collection is the Ghisi Shield , a parade shield never intended for use in battle, made by Giorgio Ghisi , who was both a goldsmith and an important printmaker . It is signed and dated 1554. With a sword hilt, dated 1570 and now in at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest , this is the only surviving damascened metalwork by Ghisi. The shield is made of iron hammered in relief, then damascened with gold and partly plated with silver. It has an intricate design with

7280-644: The most significant brush with forgery has been to benefit the collection. In 1959 it was confirmed that the Waddesdon Holy Thorn Reliquary had been in the Habsburg Imperial Treasury in Vienna from 1677 onwards. It remained in Vienna until after 1860, when it appeared in an exhibition. Some time after this it was sent to be restored by Salomon Weininger, an art dealer with access to skilled craftsmen, who secretly made

7384-519: The mounts were added in the 19th century, perhaps in Paris. However the cartouche with Akbar's name does not seem to specialists correct for a contemporary court piece, and the vase in India was probably carved after his reign (1556–1605), and the name perhaps added even later. Apart from the two pieces of Islamic glass described above, there are five Renaissance or Baroque glass vessels, all unusual and of exceptional quality. Most are Venetian glass ; one

7488-623: The museum in his lifetime, which are not counted in the Bequest. Baron Ferdinand's bequest was most specific, and failure to observe the terms would make it void. It stated that the collection should be placed in a special room to be called the Waddesdon Bequest Room separate and apart from the other contents of the Museum and thenceforth for ever thereafter, keep the same in such room or in some other room to be substituted for it. These terms are still observed, and until late 2014

7592-404: The objects now in the British Museum can be seen in a cabinet in the background of a family portrait from 1838 (left), the year before Ferdinand was born. In his Reminiscences Ferdinand recalled his excitement as a child when he was allowed to help wrap and unwrap his father's collection, which spent the summers in a strongroom when the family left Vienna for a country villa. The period after

7696-569: The opponent's ball. " Winning hazard " and " losing hazard " are terms still mentioned in the official rules for these two fundamental shot types, although " pot " and " in-off " have become the usual terms for them in British English . The final element was the cannon (or carom ) shot, which came from carom billiards , a game popular in various countries of western Continental Europe , especially France, and in many parts of Asia and South America. In

7800-449: The opposite cushion without lying against it earned the right to shoot for points first. This is the origin of the modern custom of " stringing " (or " lagging "). A player who pocketed the opponent's ball scored two points, as is still the case in modern billiards. A player missing the opponent's ball, considered a foul , added one point to the opponent's total; the shooter conceded two points if their own ball went into

7904-471: The pieces include mounts or bases in precious metal, which none of the actual glass has; nor are the rock crystal pieces painted. Read's catalogue groups these and other pieces in semi-precious stone with the objects in gold, as opposed to the "silver plate", which probably reflects how a Renaissance collector would have ranked them. There are ten pieces in crystal and nine in other stones. Two crystal pieces are plain oval plaques engraved with figurative scenes,

8008-502: The pieces though it is not easy to place the date or country of manufacture. There is no such difficulty with the most famous jewel in the collection, the Lyte Jewel , which was made in London and presented to Thomas Lyte of Lytes Cary , Somerset in 1610 by King James I of England , who loved large jewels, and giving them to others. Lyte was not a regular at court, but he had drawn up a family tree tracing James's descent back to

8112-503: The reigns of Louis'. His collection of Renaissance objets d'art from the house was bequeathed to the British Museum , and under the terms of the bequest are still displayed there separately as the Waddesdon Bequest . The Holy Thorn Reliquary is a highlight of the collection, though its distinguished provenance was unknown until after World War II. He willed Waddesdon Manor to Alice Charlotte von Rothschild , his unmarried younger sister, who had lived with him there. Yet, 'towards

8216-562: The result of a cold caught when last visiting his wife's tomb. He was buried next to his wife at the Rothschild Mausoleum in the Jewish Cemetery at West Ham . Fluent in three languages, and considered "as much at home in Paris as in London", Ferdinand was an already inspired collector of eighteenth-century French decorative arts from his early twenties. For instance, when he was only 21 years old, his first purchase

8320-700: The reverse of a large dish whose main face shows a brightly coloured depiction of the Destruction of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea . Both designs are closely paralleled, without being exactly copied, in pieces in other collections, notably one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The designs are also based on prints, but adapted by the enamellers for their pieces. The Casket of the Sibyls

8424-444: The same equipment for both games and play the game to practise ball control. There are three balls. They are the same size as snooker balls (52.5 mm or 2 + 1 ⁄ 16  in with a tolerance of 0.05 mm) and they must weigh the same to a tolerance of 0.5  g within a set. The balls are designated as: The billiard table used has the same dimensions as in snooker, and in many venues, both games are played on

8528-433: The same equipment. The playing area of a standard tournament table measures 11 feet 8 inches by 5 ft 10 in (3.569 m by 1.778 m) with a tolerance of 1 ⁄ 2 inch (1.26 cm) in both directions, though smaller ones, down to half size, are often found in snooker halls , pubs and home billiard rooms . To see who will be the starting player, players perform

8632-427: The sequence of the museum's catalogue numbers, and giving the first number for each category, the bequest consists of: "bronzes", handles and a knocker (WB.1); arms, armour and ironwork (WB.5); enamels (WB.19); glass (WB.53); Italian maiolica (WB.60); "cups etc in gold and hard stone" (WB.66); silver plate (WB.87); jewellery (WB.147); cutlery (WB.201); "caskets, etc" (WB.217); carvings in wood and stone (WB.231–265). There

8736-429: The start of the game, or by which player is leading at the end of a timed game. If the red is potted it is respotted on the spot at the top of the table (the black spot). After the red has been potted twice off the spot in a row (i.e. without a cannon or losing hazard), it is respotted on the middle spot . If the middle spot is occupied, it goes on the pyramid spot (the pink spot in snooker). If both

8840-437: The table (same as the black spot in snooker) and the first player begins by playing in-hand from the "D" behind the baulk line. The other cue ball remains off the table until the opponent's first turn, when they play in hand from the "D". The idea is to leave the balls safe by creating either a double baulk (both object balls in baulk), or the red in baulk with the cue-ball tight ( frozen ) to

8944-411: The table. However the examples in the collection were probably hardly ever used for this, but were intended purely for display on sideboards; typically the basins are rather shallow for actual use. These were perhaps the grandest type of plate, with large surfaces where Mannerist inventiveness could run riot in the decoration. They were already expensive because of the weight of the precious metal, to which

9048-522: The technique of enamelling en ronde bosse , or "in the round", which had been recently developed when the reliquary was made, to create a total of 28 three-dimensional figures, mostly in white enamel. In contrast, two highly elaborate metalwork covers for the treasure bindings of the Epistle and Gospel Books for the high altar of a large church, probably Ulm Minster , were made around 1506 but are full of spiky Gothic architectural details, although

9152-429: The top-side cushion. Points are awarded as follows: Combinations of the above may all be scored on the same shot. The most that can be scored in a single shot is therefore 10 – the red and the other cue ball are both potted via a cannon (the red must be struck first), and the cue ball is also potted, making a losing hazard off the red. The winner is determined by a player reaching a fixed number of points set at

9256-488: The totality of his taste. Here what most appealed to Ferdinand Rothschild were intricate, superbly executed, highly decorated and rather ostentatious works of the Late Gothic, Renaissance and Mannerist periods. Few of the objects could be said to rely on either simplicity or Baroque sculptural movement for their effect, though several come from periods and places where much Baroque work was being made. A new display for

9360-562: The tradition of using the house as a place to keep his collections. Although Ferdinand de Rothschild was born in Paris in 1839, he was from Vienna and was a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria . He was the second son of Anselm Salomon Freiherr von Rothschild (1803–1874), a Vienna-based banker, and his English wife Charlotte Nathan Rothschild (1807–1859), daughter of Nathan Mayer Rothschild . Ferdinand's great-grandfather

9464-501: The walls and free-standing in the centre, the latter with two levels. In 1921 it was moved to the North Wing. In 1973 the new setting in Room 45 aimed "to create an element of surprise and wonder" in a small space, where only the objects were brightly lit, and displayed in an outer octagon of wall cases, and an inner one of partition walls, rising to the low ceiling and set with shallow display cases, some visible from both sides. In

9568-411: The walls. Comfortable seating was plentiful, some upholstered with pieces from medieval vestments, and there were framed photographs and houseplants. The room is now refilled with objects from the same period though of somewhat different types, and visitors to Waddesdon Manor can see it from the doorway. The room, with the adjoining Billiards Room, is the only reception room at Waddesdon Manor to follow

9672-420: The wealth of their owner, and in many cases were designed to be appreciated when held in the hand, rather than seen under glass. There are a number of standing cups with a cover, many from Augsburg and Nuremberg ; these were used to drink a toast from to welcome a guest, and were also a common gift presented in politics and diplomacy, and by cities to distinguished visitors. Their decoration sometimes reflected

9776-581: Was Mayer Amschel Rothschild . He had the hereditary title of Freiherr ( baron ) in the Austrian nobility . He was 'Ferdy' to his family and friends. When Ferdinand became a British subject and moved from Vienna to London, "[he] epitomised the expanding lifestyle of the fourth generation". On 7 June 1865, he married his second cousin Evelina de Rothschild (1839–1866), the daughter of Baron Lionel de Rothschild (1808–1879). On 4 December 1866, their son

9880-829: Was Jonathan Kentfield, who held the title from 1820 to 1849, losing it to John Roberts Sr. after Kentfield refused his challenge. Roberts's 21-year reign lasted until he lost to William Cook in 1870. That year was also the first in which an English billiards challenge match was held in the United States. From 1870 to 1983 the champions were: William Cook , (1870, 1871–74); John Roberts Jr. , (1870, 1871, 1875–77, 1885); Joseph Bennett , (1870, 1880–81); Charles Dawson , (1899–1900, 1901, 1903); H. W. Stevenson , (1901, 1909–11); Melbourne Inman , (1908–09, 1912–19); Willie Smith , (1920, 1923); Tom Newman , (1921–22, 1924–27); Joe Davis , (1928–32); Walter Lindrum , (1933–50); Clark McConachy , (1951-68); Rex Williams , (1968–76, 1982–83); and Fred Davis , (1980). A "Women's Billiard Association"

9984-504: Was a British banker, art collector and politician who was a member of the Rothschild family of bankers. He identified as a Liberal , later Liberal Unionist , and sat as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1898. Ferdinand had a younger sister, Alice , who like her brother was a keen horticulturalist and collector. She inherited Ferdinand's property, Waddesdon Manor , in 1898 after he died and likewise continued

10088-408: Was a restless and, by his own account, unhappy man, whose life was blighted by the death of his wife after giving birth to their only child, who was stillborn; this was in 1866. Thereafter he lived with his unmarried sister Alice . As well as filling positions in local public life, he was Liberal MP for Aylesbury from 1885 until his death, and from 1896 a Trustee of the British Museum, probably at

10192-464: Was acquired, with other similar pieces, for Waddesdon from the Duke of Devonshire's collection about 1897, not long before Baron Ferdinand's death. Sir Hugh Tait's 1991 catalogue says of the vase: As he describes, it was Tait who overturned the attribution to Cellini in 1971. In a collection of Renaissance metalwork Benvenuto Cellini (1500–71) represents the ultimate attribution, as his genuine works as

10296-406: Was also the year he bought the Waddesdon estate and began to build there. Ferdinand continued to expand the collection until his death in 1898, mostly using dealers, and expanding the range of objects collected. In particular, Ferdinand expanded to around fifty the ten or so pieces of jewellery in his father's collection. The New Smoking Room built to hold the collection was only planned in 1891, and

10400-553: Was formed in Britain in 1931. One of the founders was Teresa Billington-Greig who had been a leading suffragette and was then married to a billiard ball manufacturer. Over the course of the 20th century, English billiards was largely superseded as the favoured cue sport in the United Kingdom by snooker and the rise of English-style eight-ball pool . The game does retain some popularity amongst snooker players, who can use

10504-611: Was made of one of the most ostentatious rococo Sèvres ship vases from the Louis XV era. His development into one of the most renowned collectors of the 19th century, even amongst the Rothschilds, is known by the abundance of family letters in which he is referred to as "curiosity-hunting... all over Europe". In the autumn of 1874, Ferdinand de Rothschild bought land in the village of Waddesdon in Buckinghamshire from

10608-510: Was more likely to be by Wenzel Jamnitzer , goldsmith to the Emperor Rudolf   II , to whom it is still attributed. Another piece no longer attributed to Cellini is a large bronze door-knocker, with a figure of Neptune , 40   cm high, and weighing over 11   kilos. One category of the bequest that has seen several demotions is the 16 pieces and sets of highly decorated cutlery (WB.201–216). Read dated none of these later than

10712-414: Was originally called the winning and losing carambole game , folding in the names of three predecessor games, the winning game , the losing game , and an early form of carom billiards that combined to form it. The winning game was played with two white balls, and was a 12- point contest. To start, the player who could strike a ball at one end of the table and get the ball to come to rest nearest

10816-649: Was stillborn, and Evelina died later the same day. In her memory, Ferdinand built, equipped and endowed the Evelina Hospital for Sick Children in Southwark , south London. From 1868 to 1875, he became Treasurer of the Jewish Board of Guardians and Warden of the Central Synagogue in 1870. During these roles, Ferdinand instigated an offer of £2,000 which ultimately led to the foundation of

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