Since race " cups " have become transformed into groups
of sculpture in silver, the prizes for the winners at Ascot and other races excite some in- terest, as showing the progress of taste and invention among the modellers for silversmiths; a class of artists whose designs are gradually elevating the craft of the chaser above the level of mere bijouterie, though they have no Benvenuto Cellini or Jean Gonjon to boast of. The two Ascot plates for this year—that given by the Emperor of Russia and the" Royal Hunt cup "—exhibited by the manufacturers, Messrs. Hunt and Roskell, in New Bond Street, are superior in boldness of design and finished execution to those of preceding years. The Czar's gift is an imposing piece of plate, elaborately wrought. It is a miniature copy of the famous equestrian statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg, including its rocky base, raised on a triangular pedestal and plinth, adorned with has reliefs, and having figures of Russian horse soldiers at the angles. The "Royal Hunt cup" is a spirited group, designed by Frank Howard, and modelled by M`Carthy, representing Robert Bruce beating off his assailants on his re- treat from Dairy. The composition is good, the action and expression of the figures are energetic and characteristic, and the modelling of both horse and men is masterly : in short, there is a vigour and daring in the work that raise it above the tame commonplaces of the workshop. The variety of texture by which the chain-mail of Bruce, the coat of his horse, and the flesh and drapery of the half-naked caterans who assail him, are discriminated, is remarkable; though the tooling is too mechanical in its execution, end injures the artistic effect of the composition by cutting up the breadth of the masses. The bronzed ground on which the figures are placed is a great mistake: it destroys the unity and coherence of the group, and gives that toy-like look which is the common defect of detached figures
in silver. But when we see the principles of sculpture disregarded As colossal statues of bronze, we ought not to be surprised at their neglect it silver statuettes.
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