Pick of the week
In 1765 the engineer and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) visited Paris, where he observed first-hand the workshops of bronziers and the wares that were proving hugely popular with Georgian Britain’s elite.
Determined to challenge French dominance in the market, in 1768 he and partner John Fothergill (1730-82) created a department for the large-scale production of ormolu at the newly built Soho Manufactory in Birmingham. The workshop, complete with the most advanced metalworking equipment (the partnership spent over £20,000 in building and equipping the premises), was managed by Richard Bentley, chief craftsman at Soho between c.1770-82.