As someone who principally collects of 19th & 18th cent. scent bottles, it was inevitable I would eventually fall under the spell of James Giles.
James Giles was a shadowy and elusive figure of Huguenot descent, who some consider to be the greatest British porcelain decorator of the mid-eighteenth century. In his book In Search of James Giles, Gerald Coke undertakes a search for those patterns which Giles and the painters in his atelier devised and executed, much of which has been determined from the study of Christie's catalogues of two sales of his stock held in 1769 and 1774, the latter following his bankruptcy.
Although as better known for decorating porcelain, Giles working from an atelier in Soho, is now recognised as having decorated glass which he most likely acquired from William Parker a renowned 18th cent. glass manufacturer and cutter. His glass decoration was principally done in gilt (a skill he learned as an apprentice jeweller) on clear, white, blue, and green glass. He reserved his mosaic patterns for glass because they relied on the glass being faceted to produce their effect.
According to glass specialist Andy McConnell the quality of Giles's porcelain enamelling perhaps equalled the best in Europe at the time, however it was stylistically derivative. English decorators did not enjoy the luxury of the royal patronage received by their German and French counterparts and relied on continental and oriental motifs and colours for inspiration. Although the dentification of Giles's porcelain work has been problematic, the same cannot be said of Giles's decoration on glass, most of which is original and distinctive. Although his rococo and floral subjects are like those applied to contemporary porcelain, his mosaics and neo-classical designs are unlike those executed by any other workshop.
When I was a kid, I was given a maths workbook entitled Seek and Find, a mantra my father often reminded me of as I was growing up. This dictum, which is now part of my DNA, made me curious as to why English bottles of this period were inscribed in French. The answer is at time French was the international language and spoken in all European courts. It was also a sign of refinement, education and sophistication and associated to gracefulness and good breeding.
In the final chapter of his book Gerald Coke, tells the reader he has been engaged on a search for James Giles and that anyone who is prepared to join in this search, will have the reward of combining an intellectual exercise with the enjoyment of acquiring and sharing some beautiful objects. Can any collector hope for more from their passion?
