A FINE EARLY VICTORIAN MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID PÂPIER-MACHÉ VASE ATTRIBUTED TO JENNENS AND BETTRIDGE, CIRCA 1850.

With polychrome and gilt decoration in the Moorish taste on a black ground.

Jennens and Bettridge of Birmingham were the leading British manufacturers of papier mâché ornaments and furniture. In their illustrated catalogue of circa 1851 they illustrate a large vase with very similar Moorish decoration which was exhibited by them at the Great Exhibition in 1851. 

The catalogue states: “The Inlaying of Mother-o’-Pearl was invented and patented by JENNENS and BETTRIDGE, and has excited universal admiration by it’s varied and superb effects, which are peculiar to this manufacture. They have also recently patented a process which gives the effect of Inlaid Gems, interlaced with fine gold ornaments; the novelty and exquisite brilliance of which surpass description."