English: Trade card designed by John Bacon, about 1821 V&A Museum no. 29380B/24

Techniques - Stipple etching, ink on paper

Artist/designer - John Bacon (designer), C. Wray (engraver)

Place - London, England

Dimensions - Height 10.6 cm (paper), Width 14.3 cm (paper)

Object Type - This object is a trade card, a small printed card used to promote a particular business or trade. Trade cards were handed out to customers or pinned up to act as an advertisement and were therefore printed, in this case etched, so that a number of them could be circulated.

People - John Bacon (1740-1799) became a well-known Neo-classical sculptor, but following his initial apprenticeship at a ceramics factory in the Lambeth area of London, he also created models for some of the most famous potteries of the day, such as Wedgwood and Derby. In about 1767 he became a modeller for the Coade Artificial Stone Manufactory in Lambeth, where he created a wide variety of works. His trade card design, which was also used as a catalogue frontispiece, dates from this period, although it remained in use well after Bacon's death.

Materials & Making -

Coadestone is a moulded artificial stone, essentially a ceramic, fired to great temperatures in the kiln to make it weather resistant. Eleanor Coade (1733-1821) inherited the business from her parents, and developed it into a highly successful commercial enterprise. Her cousin John Sealy was a partner until his death in 1813. Her successor was her manager, William Croggon, who ran the factory on her behalf from 1813 to 1821. He then bought the factory and ran it until he went bankrupt in 1833. One of the reasons behind the success of the venture in Eleanor Coade's time was the use of Coadestone by architects such as Robert Adam (1728-1792), who wanted designs (often in multiples) that copied, or were inspired by, classical Greek and Roman examples.