Antique Victorian Pot Lid Strasbourg France Gothic Cathedral River

4 ¼ inches    11cm

English Cottage Style

This lovely antique, 19^th C, circa 1850-1860, English pot lid, has beautiful printing like an old painting, entitled ‘Strasburg’, being a view of the city.   Historically interesting, this lid looks great on a desk as a paperweight for anyone who likes history or indeed anyone interested in this beautiful city. Strasbourg Cathedral is the second most-visited cathedral in France after Notre-Dame de Paris, in 1839, Victor Hugo declared that the cathedral was a “gigantic and delicate marvel”.

This lovely lid makes a great little display piece.

Pot lid - Creamy earthenware - Transfer-printed – City of Strasbourg, gothic cathedral, River Ill, bridge, figures and boats, the print enclosed by a narrow circular rope work border.

Maker – T.J. & J. Mayer, Longport, Staffordshire, England

Lovely old pot lid with a beautiful print, like an old oil painting.

Wonderful paintings and prints of this time inspired, and were taken up by manufacturers of luxury goods – prints, textiles and porcelain throughout Europe.  Imaging being able to buy your fish paste in such beautiful pots today!

Approximate Measurements

Diameter – 4 1/4 inches     (11 cm)

                        

Condition

Good antique condition – fine crackle lines in glaze, couple of soft old chips to flange, two old, fine hairline cracks.

Please refer to the photographs as they form an important part of the description.

Shipping may be combined where possible.

 

Information Only

It was Felix Edward Pratt (1813-94) who spotted the commercial possibilities of using new printing technology to decorate the lids of containers for popular products such as bear's grease, gentleman's relish, potted shrimps and cosmetics, with sophisticated designs.

After 1840, F. & R. Pratt of Fenton in Staffordshire became the leading (but not the only) manufacturer of multi-coloured transfer printed pot lids and a huge range of related wares.

Long admired for their technical excellence, for their sheer variety and as a social and historical record of their era, pot lids have a venerable collecting history and rank among the most desirable everyday items from the Victorian period.

Strasbourg

For the city which gave France its national anthem, Strasbourg has had something of a rocky ride across the centuries. Strategically positioned on the Rhine, this elegant metropolis has been batted back and forth between France and Germany no fewer than five times since the late 17th century.

Is Strasbourg historically French or German?

It became a French city in 1681, after the conquest of Alsace by the armies of Louis XIV. In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, the city became German again, until 1918 (end of World War I), when it reverted to France.

In ancient times Strasbourg began life as a Celtic village, then later it became a Roman castrum. Strasbourg was part of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire from the ninth century onwards, but in the Middle Ages it was governed first by bishops and then by guilds of burghers, before France’s Louis XIV took over in 1681. Two centuries later, after the siege of 1870, the city surrendered to Germany and acted as capital of the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine… until French troops arrived in 1918 and ownership changed yet again.

But the upheaval for local residents wasn’t over. Barely 20 years after becoming French again, Alsace was annexed by Germany from June 1940 until November 1944 when Liberation arrived under General Leclerc.

Strasbourg today has become once again a central place of politics, the seat of the European Parliament, although most Parliamentary Committee activity takes place in Brussels, while its General Secretariat is based in Luxembourg.