Grand Miniatures

Grand Miniatures
19th Century Souvenir Buildings from the Collection of Ace Architects
San Francisco Airport, International Terminal
December, 2010 - June, 2011
2 3 This page and cover:
19th Century Souvenir Buildings
as installed in the Collection of
Ace Architects
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Grand Miniatures
Grand Miniatur
19th Century Souvenir Buildings from the Collection of Ace Architects
San Francisco Airport, International Terminal
19th Century Souvenir Buildings from the Collection of Ace A
December, 2010 - June, 2011
www. flysfo.com/web/page/sfo_museum/exhibitions/international_terminal_exhibitions/south_20.html
San Francisco Airport, International T
December, 2010 - Jun
Catalogue
Lucia Howard & David Weingarten
Ace Architects
www.aceland.com
19th Century Souvenir Buildings
as installed in the Collection of
Ace Architects
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Contents
Concourse
Monument to Dante,
Trento, Italy
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Rheims Cathedral,
Rheims
I.
Exhibition Plan
facing page
Eiffel Tower,
Paris
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Roman Forum Group,
Italy
II.
The Grand Tour and Its Souvenirs
pp. 8-19
III.
19th Century Souvenir Buildings 20 Vitrines
pp. 20-45
IV.
About the Collection
p. 46
V.
Bibliography
p. 47
Bank of England,
London
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Arc de Triomphe,
Paris
Rouen Cathedral,
Rouen
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Colonne du Congres,
Brussels
Cleopatra’s Needle,
London
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July Column,
Paris
Arch of Janus, Pantheon,
Arch of Constantine, Rome
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Pantheon,
Rome
Austerlitz Column,
Paris
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Notre Dame Cathedral,
Paris
Baptistry,
Pisa
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Tomb of Scipio,
Rome
Octogon zu Wilhelmshohe,
Kassel, Germany
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Luxor Obelisk,
Paris
Arch of Constantine,
Rome
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Colonna dell’Immacolata,
Rome
Exhibition Plan
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The Grand Tour and Its Souvenirs
Most visitors to this exhibition, in the International Terminal of San Francisco Airport, are on their way somewhere else – often to places far away and provocatively
unfamiliar; places perhaps exotic, ancient, and out-of-the-way; for purposes
diverting, instructive, commercial.
These travelers continue a tradition begun more than 400 years ago. Beginning in the
late 16th century, a very few, often English tourists began to write about their almost
unimaginably adventurous visits to the Continent. With these accounts developed
new understandings of travel, especially the idea that it might be both educational
and entertaining. Before then, only war and religion (often the two together, e.g. The
Crusades), as well as commerce (e.g. Marco Polo) propelled people to distant places.
Voyage of Italy, or a Compleat Journey through Italy, the first English guidebook to that
country, appeared in 1670, written by Richard Lassels, a Catholic priest and “bearleader” – a tour guide and chaperone of sorts to those young aristocratic
Englishmen, and occasionally women, who were the period’s typical tourists. Very
often, this journey, which might occupy a year or more, replaced students’ final terms
at college; and in addition to other duties, bearleaders acted as teachers, seeing to
their charges’ formal education.
By the early part of the 18th century, the English traveler’s route was well established
– across the Channel to France; several weeks in Paris, slow progress south across the
Alps to Italy and eventually, after stops in Florence and, perhaps, Venice, on to Rome,
the ultimate destination.
This trip, which became known as the Grand Tour, could be difficult and perilous.
Grand Tourists perished en route and in Italy from disease; and journeys were often
interrupted by quarantines for plague; wars and civil insurrections; highwaymen,
‘banditti’, and, for those few choosing passage by ship, pirates.
Hall at Hamilton Palace, Scotland, with souvenirs of the Grand Tour, including a patented bronze miniature of Paris’ Colonne d’Austerlitz (Photograph c. 1870)
And yet, still the travelers came. The attractions, of course, were multiple and
substantial. Historic accounts of the Grand Tour focus on its cultural and, especially,
artistic aspects – the opportunity to visit the great, ancient monuments and
sculptures of Classical Rome; to see the famous canvases and palaces of the
Renaissance, for example. This passion for antique Classicism both mirrored and fed
parallel enthusiasms in England. In this period, leading British architects and artists
worked largely in the Classical idioms. The most important buildings were patterned
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on those of Andrea Palladio, the Classicing Italian Renaissance architect whose work
interpreted the majestic structures of ancient Rome.
Why were the British held in such thrall by Rome? The cultural parallels were
unmistakable. Ancient Rome had been the civilized center of empire for a thousand
years. In the mid- 18th century, a pinnacle of the British Empire, the new center was
London. And yet, as the then ruined city dramatically highlighted, Rome, its civilization and empire, had foundered. Modern Romans lived among the ruins. In ways
profound, and hardly subtle, Rome offered the British a riveting, cautionary tale; a
glimpse, perhaps, of their own future.
Cultural pre-occupations with Classicism occasioned neglect of other historic
periods, including the achievements of the Gothic. The Grand Tour souvenirs
exhibited here reflect travelers’ skewed interests, with Classical buildings and
monuments abundantly represented, while their Gothic counterparts are almost,
though not entirely, overlooked.
Recent Grand Tour studies have included the pleasures of this travel beyond the
academic. Freed of stifling social conventions at home, young English aristocrats
took to the variety of novel cultural freedoms enjoyed in Italy.
(above)
“Canova in his Studio with Henry Tresham”
(1788), by Hugh Douglas Hamilton. The
famed sculptor, mallet and chisel in hand,
leaning against his “Cupid and Psyche”, speaks
with Tresham, a London historical painter
pictured here on his Grand Tour .
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“Portrait of John Talbot” (1773) by Pompeo
Batoni. This life-sized canvas of the future 1st
Earl Talbot features antique Roman statues
and architectural artifacts.
If not quite Spring Break in Daytona Beach, it was very unlike London. Liberties
extended to the predictable vices of drink and gaming, but in other directions as
well. The Italian custom of ‘ciciebeship’, for example, entertained older, married
noblewomen’s liaisons with young English travelers.
Especially in the latter part of the 18th century in Italy, Grand Tourism occasioned
a large trade in antiquities and art. In addition to ancient statues, architectural
artifacts, and Italian Old Master pictures, there was now substantial commerce in
new sculpture, including work by Antonio Canova and new paintings, especially
much-esteemed portraits of Grand Tourists, by artists such as Pompeo Batoni.
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Additionally, a new genre of painting, the capriccio, picturing novel, imagined
arrangements of ancient Classical architectural ruins, was widely produced, and
enthusiastically purchased for export to England. These pictures origins lie in 17th
century Baroque Italian vedute – view paintings – of Classical ruins, made as
decoration for palazzi and apartments. The central subject of these was, of course,
Rome. The most famous capriccio painter, Gian Paolo Panini, maintained a studio
of artists all capable of working in his distinctive style.
The French Revolution, in 1792, soon led to that country’s occupation of
substantial areas of the Kingdom of Italy, and very sharply curtailed Grand Tourism,
though the especially adventurous still set out for Rome.
“A Capriccio of Roman Ruins” (1737), Gian Paolo Panini. An imaginary grouping of ancient Roman
monuments, including the Colosseum, Arch of Titus, Pyramid of Aaius Cesstius, etc.
Yet, by the first part of the 19th century, encouraged by English travel companies
such as Thomas Cook, which arranged all aspects of visitors’ itineraries; and,
especially, by the later completion of railroad routes to Italy, tourism revived, at a
scale previously unknown.
In the mid-19th century, the Grand Tour, previously an aristocratic privilege,
became somthing of a mass phenomenon, the precursor to today’s democratized,
international travel industry, in which San Francisco Airport plays an integral role.
“The Colosseum and Arch of Constantine” (c. 1650), Viviano Codazzi. This Baroque veduta realistically
pictures the adjacent ancient Roman structures .
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Architectural Models
Grand Miniatures: 19th Century Souvenir Buildings from the Collection of Ace
Architects surveys the range of miniature architectural travel souvenirs available to Grand
Tourists along their usual route – from London, through France to Paris, then south to the
Alps, into northern Italy and, eventually, to Rome.
These miniatures also reflect the changing nature of European travel in the 19th century.
For example, the exhibit’s large, very finely made, gilt bronze timepiece replicas of the
facades of cathedrals in Paris, Rheims, and Rouen, were all made ca. 1820, for very wellheeled clientele, including aristocratic Grand Tourists. By century’s end, and at the other
end of the spectrum, the mass-produced cast zinc and iron replicas of the Eiffel Tower were
made to be much less costly, available to travelers of relatively modest means.
If the quality of architectural souvenirs changed much over the course of the 19th century,
their subject matter – Classicism and the antique – varied hardly at all. Even in prosperous,
up-to-date cities, these miniatures focus on ancient monuments.
Grand Miniatures includes two vitrines featuring London souvenirs. These include the socalled Cleopatra’s Needle, a 15th century BC Egyptian obelisk, brought from Alexandria; as
well as the classicizing Nelson’s Column and Bank of England, their designs reliant on antique Rome. Only a late 19th century replica of Big Ben touches on the City’s much longer
and more profound history with Gothic.
Likewise, among Parisian souvenirs featured here are the Arc de Triomphe (patterned on
Rome’s Arch of Constantine); the Luxor Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde (another
ancient Egyptian obelisk removed to Europe); and the Colonne d’Austerlitz in the Place
Vendome, made in nearly literal imitation of Rome’s Trajan’s Column, though crowned by
a different Emperor - Napoleon.
(top left) Models fashioned from cork were the earliest Italian architectural miniatures made for Grand
Tourists; and were often commissioned, rather than made in multiples. This 1787 cork miniature of Rome’s
Arch of Titus was made by Antonio Chichi.
(lower left) A second half of the 19th century marble miniature of the Temple of the Sibyl, in Tivoli, outside
Rome.
(right) This Italian red marble pair of architectural miniatures protraying the Roman Forum’s Temple of
Vespasian and Column of Phocas, are marked as made by Giuseppe Locatelli, in 1855.
It is, then, little surprise that the Eternal City is the place most abundantly represented in
Grand Miniatures, nor that all this City’s monumental miniatures are modeled on ancient
structures. These are of all types – ruined and intact temples, triumphal arches and columns, and the great marvels of antique Rome – the Colosseum and Pantheon. Among
these Roman souvenirs is a marble replica of the Flaminian Obelisk, in the Piazza del
Popolo, yet another ancient Egyptian monument brought to the then new center of empire.
There are, in fact, more ancient Egyptian obelisks in Rome than in Egypt.
The materials of these 19th century Roman architectural souvenirs – Italian marbles,
alabaster, and bronze – go hand in hand with their subject matter. This exhibition’s
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miniatures of the ruined Temples of Vespasian and Castor and Pollux, in the Forum, are
fashioned from marble, like the buildings they represent. It is much more than possible that
these souvenirs are made from antique Italian giallo antico, a marble commonly available in
mid-19th century Rome.
Along the same lines, it is worth remembering that when Pope Julius II required the
travertine for St. Peters, in the early 16th century, he sent his stonemasons to the
Colosseum, which for centuries was employed as a quarry. Similarly, bronze ceiling tiles
removed from Rome’s Pantheon on order of Pope Urban VIII were melted down and reused, in part, for St. Peter’s Baldachino, designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini. Might some portion of the bronze, not employed by Bernini, have eventually found its way to this exhibition’s bronze model of the Pantheon.
(top left) This third quarter of the 19th century bronze, double inkwell replica of Rome’s Pantheon is included in “Grand Miniatures” (Vitrine #6); and is very similar to the model mentioned in Edith Wharton’s
1901 short story “The Angle at the Grave”.
(top right) A c. 1875 bronze inkwell in the form of Rome’s Temple of Hercules is supported on a stepped base
made of two different Italian marbles.
Late 19th century Italian architectural souvenirs, including this Exhibition’s Pisa miniatures
– the Leaning Tower, Cathedral, and Baptistry – were often machine carved from alabaster,
rather than more expensive marble. This less precious stone, sometimes combined with
marble, was the material of choice for these souvenirs through the last decade of the 19th
century into the first decade of the 20th century.
By 1900, Grand Tourists had collected travel souvenirs of Italy and other European
destinations for more than 200 years. These included pictures, sculptures, antiquities, and
the architectural miniatures which are the subject of this exhibition. In their new settings,
these objects provoked fresh associations:
The House, by the time Paulina came to live in it, had already acquired the
publicity of a place of worship; not the perfumed chapel of a romantic
idolatry but the cold clean empty meeting-house of ethical enthusiasms.
The ladies lived on its outskirts, as it were, in cells that left the central fane
undisturbed. The very position of the furniture had come to have a ritual
significance: the sparse ornaments were the offerings of kindred intellects,
the steel engravings by Raphael Morghen marked the Via Sacra of a
European tour, and the black-walnut desk with its bronze inkstand modelled
on the Pantheon was the altar of this bleak temple of thought.
From Edith Wharton’s “The Angel at the Grave”, 1901
This set of alabaster miniatures of Pisa’s monuments - (left to right) Leaning Tower, Basilica, and Baptistry are listed in an 1892 household inventory for Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, England.
The Great War, like conflicts before it, brought European tourism to a halt. By the time
widespread travel resumed, tourists’ priorities and the sorts of souvenirs they sought were
very much changed. Previous, single-minded passions for Classicism and ancient civilization faded, crowded by a range of other travel attractions. With this, the need of returning
home with souvenir models of Europe’s antique monuments became less urgent.
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There’s a certain poignance, then, with Grand Miniatures, an exhibition of architectural tourists’ mementos from an antique period of travel; a period whose focus and
leisurely pace was supplanted by more modern, diverse interests, abetted by the ability to move around the planet quickly, easily, in airplanes.
Yet, Grand Miniatures also points to travel’s constants – our ongoing desires to see
and experience first hand memorable, unfamiliar places and cultures; learn about the
world beyond the everyday and take pleasure in this, just as the Grand Tourists did,
beginning in the 17th century.
Notes from this Exhibition
Grand Miniatures is arranged in twenty vitrines towards the south end of San
Francisco Airport’s International Terminal. Each case focuses on a single city along
the route of the Grand Tour, and includes one or more of each place’s architectural
souvenirs.
This catalogue sharpens the focus still further, considering either individual objects
or, less frequently, small groups of related miniatures. In this, our purpose is to
examine in greater depth the circumstances and histories of the souvenirs themselves,
rather than the buildings and monuments they model.
For example, this catalogue attempts to provide the dates of manufacture for each
object, and , where possible, the name of the manufacturer. This exhibition’s
miniatures were made for a variety of purposes, from a variety of materials,
employing a variety of methods; and a further goal of the following is to describe
something of these ranges.
The British were not the only northern Europeans in the 17th through the 19th centuries focussed on
antique Classicism and the ancient world. After the French Revolution, Napoleon financed expeditions to
Egypt, whose purposes were both to document the great monuments, and return with artifacts. For this,
the new Emperor engaged the assistance of Dominique Vivant, who in the late 18th century worked for
the government, studying and collecting ancient art in Italy, and producing two important architectural
volumes concerning ancient Egypt.
In 1804 Napoleon appointed him Director-General of Museums, in which capacity he personally brought
to France artwork from defeated nations, especially Italy.
Benjamin Zix’s “Portrait Allegorique de Vivant Denom” shows him surrounded by Classicizing sculpture,
models of ancient monuments, and antique texts.
Interestingly enough, several of the miniatures in this exhibition pre-date the places
they represent, providing new meanings for the word “souvenir”. Several other of
these replicas have outlived the monuments they model.
A final purpose of this catalogue, in common with the exhibition, is to underscore
both the historical changes in the ways we recall memorable places, as well as the
absolute continuity of our passions for this species of memory.
We’re grateful to the SFO Museum, lead by Director Blake Summer, for the compelling, handsome curation,
design, and installation of “Grand Miniatures: 19th Century Souvenir Buildings from the Collection of Ace
Architects”. This is the third exhibition with which we’ve collaborated with SFO Museum, over the last 17
years. We much appreciate their enthusiasm and commitment to exhibitions at once popular, and beyond the
reach of more conventional institutions.
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(above) Maker’s plaque is located below clockface.
(this page) Highly detailed, gilded bronze clock case is
typical of French cathedral clocks of this period.
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Rheims
Cathedral, France
c. 1820; F. Villemsens, Paris: gilded bronze; 24” high
In the first part of the 19th century, several French clockmakers undertook elaborately
detailed models of a group of French gothic cathedrals, including Rheims, Notre Dame de
Paris, and Rouen. F. Villemsens, a Parisian maker, fabricated this fire-gilded bronze miniaGrand Tour Miniaturesture of Rheims Cathedral c. 1820. This clock was furnished with an inlaid rosewood base,
Case Plan
which supported a removeable glass dome. At the base’s interior is a coiled red gong, struck
at the hour and half hour.
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(this page)
High detail relief
carving of entablature and column
capitals.
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Roman Forum Group, Italy
c. 1850; Italy; marble; 17-1/2“ high
These Italian giallo antico marble models of the ruins of the Temples of Castor and Pollux,
and Vespasian, and the Column of Phocus, all in the Roman Forum, date to the middle of
the 19th century. Often encountered singly, this is an unusual matched set of miniatures Grand Tour Miniaturestheir capitols, columns, bases, and other details all the work of the same expert carver.
Case Plan
Despite the Forum’s profusion of ruins, these three monuments were souvenir makers’ models of choice.
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(above)
LeBlanc Freres name is
stamped into the underside of
the box top.
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Arc de Triomphe, Paris
1870’s: LeBlanc Freres, Paris; patinated bronze; 15“ high
This large, highly detailed, patinated bronze model of the Arc de Triomphe is mounted to a
French slate base. Maker LeBlanc Freres produced a profusion of good quality Parisian
souvenir architectural minatures, in a variety of sizes, in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Like
Grand Tour Miniatures
this model, the majority of these miniatures included a velver lined box built into the top.
Case Plan
Colonne de Congres, Belgium
1860; Belgium; patinated bronze; 36“ high
A tour de force of mid-19th century bronze casting, this extravagantly detailed model of the
Colonne de Congres includes extracts from the Belgian constitution, names of the country’s
martyrs, etc., readable only under magnification. This miniature’s several parts are fitted together with a precision and closeness of tolerance unseen in other architectural replicas.
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Case Plan
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(left) Detail of July Column capital,
and Le Genie de la Liberte
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July Column, Paris
1870’s; LeBlanc Freres, Paris; patinated bronze; 25-1/2” high
In the second half of the 19th century, before completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889,
Parisian souvenir monuments were generally limited to the Arc de Triomphe, Colonne
d’Austerlitz, Obelisqe du Luxor, and this, the Colonne de Juillet. All, it appears, were cast, at
Grand Tour Miniatures
one time or another, by the LeBlanc Freres foundry.
Case Plan
Pantheon, Rome
c. 1870: Italy; double inkwell; bronze /marble; 6“ high
In the 17th century, Roman Baroque architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini added a pair of bell
towers to the facade of the ancient Pantheon. They were not popular and, almost immediately, were called the “ass’s ears”. In 1883 they were removed. This bronze model of the
Pantheon pictures the ancient temple absent Bernini’s scorned ‘ears’.
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Case Plan
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(far left) Detail of windows and
openings adjacent to the clockface.
(left)
Maker’s stamp at back of clock.
(below)
Detail of gallery at base of towers.
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Notre Dame, Paris
c. 1820; F. DuMouchel a Paris; gilded bronze; 18“ high
Another in the impressive group of early 19th century minaiutre s of French gothic cathedrals, this model was made by F. DuMouchel of Paris. Perhaps the best known maker
of these clocks is Barozet Freres. Ottomeyer and Proschel’s volume Vergoldete Bronzen
Grand Tour Miniatures
Case Plan
pictures the firm’s Rheims Cathedral, and notes their advertisement for the range of the
architectural clocks in an 1837 issue of the Commerce Almanac.
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(left)
Detail of
carving at lid
and top of box.
Inscription is
red pigment
pressed into
carved letters.
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Tomb of Scipio, Rome
c. 1850 ; Italy; marble; 8” high
Located along the Appian Way, the Tomb of Scipio contained the remains of one of Imperial
Rome’s greatest military leaders. In the 19th century, this was a popular subject for souvenir
architectural miniatures. This large example, fashioned from red marble, is purposed, almost
Grand Tour Miniaturesof course, as a box with a removable lid.
Case Plan
(right)
The obelisk’s
base, designed
by the French,
portrays the
elevation of
the monument
in Paris.
Luxor Obelisk, Paris
1870’s: LeBlanc Freres, Paris: Brass/marble; 16-1/2“high
This ancient Egyptian obelisk, originally placed at the Temple in Luxor, arrived in Paris in
1883 after an unusually harrowing journey, and was re-erected on a new base in the Place de
la Concorde. This replica, which may have been cast by LeBlanc Freres, is highlty realized,
and includes the diagram showing how the monument was re-erected.
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Case Plan
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(this page)
The monument’s base with various
marbles, alabaster, cast bronze Papal
crest, and terra cotta statue.
(opposite above)
Terra cottra figure of the Virgin.
(opposite below)
Cast silver bas relief, one of four set
into the base.
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Colonna dell’Immacolata, Rome
c. 1853; Italy; marble/ alabaster/ silver/ terracotta/ bronze; 80“ high
Extraordinaily tall and lavishly turned out, this model of the Colonna dell’Imacolata near
the Piazza de Spagna at the foot of the Spanish Steps, is fashioned from a remarkable variety
of materials. The piece includes seven different marbles, alabaster, cast silver panels, terra
Grand Tour Miniaturescotta figures, and bronze miniatures of the Papal seal. Differences in proportiona and detail,
Case Plan
between the model and the monument it represents, suggest this impressive miniature was
fabricated in advance of the Colonna’s construction in 1857. Pope Pius IX anounced the
project, celebrating the Virgin’s own virgin birth, in 1854, and this model likely served to
rally enthusiasm for the project.
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(above)
Unidentified maker’s mark or inventory
number.
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Arch of Constantine, Rome
c. 1850: Italy; bronze/travertine: 12“ high
This large, unusual, highly detailed bronze miniature is set atop a block of possibly antique
travertine. Later 19th century replicas of this monument were carved in both marble and
alabaster.
Grand Tour Miniatures
Case Plan
(above)
Inkwell and samder covers are hinged or pivot to the
side.
Octogon zu Wilhelmshohe, Kassel, Germany
ca. 1860; Germany; triple inkwell; brass; 12“ high
The remarkable, early 18th century Calissically-inspired landscape and waterworks at Kassel is
the subject of this perspectivally-enhanced, brass, triple inkwell and sander. Closer architectural
elements are rendered large, while those in the distance, including a statue of Hercules atop an
attenuated pyramid, are smaller.
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Case Plan
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The souvenirs pictured
here, produced over
the length of the 19th
century, record three
successive changes to the
figure of Napoleon atop
the column:
(l to r) c. 1810, c. 1850,
c. 1880)
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Baptistry, Pisa
c. 1890; Italy; alabaster/marble; 9“ high
Towards the end of the 19th century, Italian architectural souvenirs were inreasingly made
in alabaster, a less costly stone than marble; and were carved with aid from machines, rather
than wholly by hand. This large model, which includes marble at its base, demonstrates the
very delicate detail possible in this material.
Grand Tour Miniatures
Case Plan
Austerlitz Column, Paris
1800s (see below): Paris; bronze and silver; all 3 are 7-1/2“ high
Built in 1810, this monument, patterned on Trajan’s Column in Rome, has undergone a
succession of changes over the course of its 200 year history. Originally the column was
surmounted by a figure of Napoleon clothed as a Roman emperor. In 1833, this statue was
exchanged for the familiar ‘Little Corporal’ which, in 1863, was itself replaced by a different,
Roman-inspired statue very similar to the original statue of 1810.
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Case Plan
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Arch of Janus, Arch of Constantine,
Pantheon, Rome
c. 1880: Italy; marlbe/alabaster; two arches are 5“ high, Pantheon 6”high
These three models were all made at about the same time; each a carved, yellow marble
Grand Tour Miniaturesminiature set atop a white stone base, into the side of which is cut the monument’s name.
Case Plan
Other Roman subjects rendered this way at about this time include the colosseum, Arches of Constantine and Titus, and Temples of Sibyl and Vesta.
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Accurate representation of the
monument’s hieroglyphics is
etched into the polished surface
of this English serpentine miniature.
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Cleopatra’s Needle, London
c. 1880; England; serpentine marble; 33-1/2“ high
In 1878, after a long sea journey from Alexandria, the ancient Egyptian obelisk from
Helopolis arrived in London. A remarkable mania for things Egyptian, including miniatures
of ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’, ensued. This large model is made of English Serpentine, its heiroGrand Tour Miniaturesglyphics, which accurately reflect the obelisk’s, etched into the stone’s lustrous surfaces.
Case Plan
(above)
Unidentified maker’s stamp at
reversed side of case.
Rouen Cathedral, France
c. 1820: France; gilded bronze; 18“ high
Like this exhibition’s early 19th century, gilded bronze clock models of Rheims and Notre
Dame, this miniature of a facade of Rouen Cathedral is elaborately and accurately detailed.
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Case Plan
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Hallmarks show, from left, the maker -Frederick Edwards; standard .925 Sterling; city - London; and date - 1897.
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Bank of England, London
1897; Frederick Edwards, London: sterling silver/marble; 4” high
cThe June 28, 1897, issue of the Liverpool Mercury included this brief item – “New York,
Saturday – The President of the American Exchange Bank has received from a college friend
a model in silver of the Bank of England. The model is a foot square, and every external
Grand Tour Miniaturesfeature is carefully reproduced. A well-known London firm was tied up months constructing
Case Plan
it and it is estimated to be worth $1000.”
What a spectacular gift for this man! Surprisingly often, architectural miniatures prove longer-lived
than the buildings they model. This sterling replica pictures the Bank as architect, John Soane,
had designed the building – a low, Classicizing, windowless (to protect against civil insurrections)
block. Beginning in 1925, a disfiguring tower was added, ruining Soane’s magical, top lit banking
halls, though preserving the street facades. This was, wrote the great architectural historian Nicholas Pevsner, “the greatest architectural crime in the City of London, of the twentieth century.”
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Figure of trumpeting
Eiffel’s design.
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Eiffel Tower, Paris
1880’s: France: painted spelter; 26“ high
This tall, painted spelter miniature predates the Eiffel Tower; and both relies on and takes
liberties with that landmark’s design, which was widely published prior to its construction.
The colossal, winged figure, blowing its long trumpet, is based on very much smaller, though
Grand Tour Miniatures
similar statue appearing in Eiffel’s original design, though left unbuilt.
Case Plan
Monument to Dante, Trento
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c. 1892: Cesare Zocchi di Francesco; Italy; bronze/marble; 41“ high
This impressive, carefully cast, bronze model was made before the monument was built, beginning in 1893. Accompanying this miniature is a tall, green marble stand, with a revolving
top, allowing the model to be turned (and admired) from all sides. Cesare Zocchi, the monument’s sculptor,etched his signature into the miniature’s base.
Case Plan
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About the Collection
Bibliography
Over the last thirty-five years, Ace Architects has assembled the world’s leading and
most extensive collection of souvenir architectural miniatures. Among these are
objects representing memorable buildings and monuments, of all types, from around
the world.
Arisi, Ferdinando. Gian Paolo Panini e i fasti della Roma del ‘700. Rome: Ugo Bozzi
Editore, 1986.
Several of the earliest of these, produced in the early 19th century, are included with
this exhibition – Grand Miniatures: 19th Century Souvenir Buildings from the Collection of Ace Architects – while the most recent were made within the last several years.
Over this two hundred year span, architectural miniatures have been fashioned from
an extraordinary variety of materials – cork; the range of marbles; brass and bronze;
zinc, iron, silver, copper, and gold; plastic, paper, wood, clay, and rubber; and, even
less enduringly, ice – into an extraordinary variety of objects – inkwells, lamps, and
boxes; paperweights, pencils, and pencil weights; salt and pepper shakers, banks,
bookends and bottles; cigarette lighters, cigarette boxes, and ashtrays; needle cases,
radios, erasers; candles, and bars of soap.
What all have in common, though, is their purpose – reminding travelers of remarkable visits to memorable places.
Objects from Ace Architects’ collection have formed exhibitions at museums across
the United States, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute
of Chicago, Octagon Museum, St. Louis University, and Museum of the City of
New York. Grand Miniatures is Ace’s third exhibition with SFO Museums.
The collection has been featured in the range of media – The New York and Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, CNN.com – as well as on TV and National Public Radio.
Souvenir Buildings/Miniature Monuments, a volume describing the phenomenon of
architectural miniatures, was authored by Ace Architects principal David Weingarten
and Margaret Majua, and published by Harry Abrams.
Black, Jeremy. Italy and the Grand Tour. New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 2003.
Hibbert, Christopher. The Grand Tour. London: Methuen London Ltd., 1987.
Lassels, Richard. An Italian Voyage, or A Compleat Journey through Italy. Paris: John
Starkey, 1670. 2 vols.
Marshall, David Ryley. Viviano and Niccolo Codazzi and the Baroque Architectural
Fantasy. Rome: Jandi Sapi Editori, 1993.
Ottomeyer, Hans, and Proschel, Peter. Vergoldete Bronzen. Munich: Klinkhardt &
Biermann, 1986. 2 vols.
Trease, Geoffrey. The Grand Tour. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967.
Grand Miniatures:
19th Century Souvenir Buildings from the Collection of Ace Architects
Back cover: Eiffel Tower vitrine
Ace Architects
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330 2nd Street #1, Oakland, Ca, 94607
Grand Tour Miniatureswww.capriccio.aceland.com