Mourning or Memorial scene, inscription reads "Sacred to Friendship." Size: 1-5/8" diameter, crack, slight staining.
See Sotheby's Americana Sale Catalog, January 1997, Lot 105, for nearly identical knob.
Battersea is a generic term for English enamel-on-copper objects of the 18th century. In 1753, Stephen Theodore Janssen established a factory at York House, in Battersea, London, to produce "Trinkets and Curiosities Enameled on Copper." The new invention of transfer printing developed a high degree of excellence, and Georgian Society delighted in the resulting "trifles." Although recent research has shown that enamels were being produced in London and the Midlands several years before York House was established, most enamel trinkets are still referred to as "Battersea Enamels," even though they were likely made in other workshops in London, Birmingham, Bilston, Wednesbury, or Liverpool.
A variety of charming items were made (snuff and patch boxes bearing mottos and memory gems). Many figural whimsies, called "toys" were created to amuse a gay and fashionable world. Many other elaborate articles (candlesticks, salts, tea caddies, and bonbonieres) were made for the tables of the newly rich middle classes.
See Susan Benjamin's, English Enamel Boxes, Merrimack Publishers Circle, 1978.)
