Wire frame, bell with clapper

Object Details

Date
ca. 1880
Period
Victorian (1837-1901)
Description
The practice of using flowers at weddings is a time-honored tradition across cultures and religions. In the nineteenth century in America, wedding ceremonies were generally held in the bride’s home, and the floral arrangements were the primary form decoration. Set pieces such as a suspended bell, ox yoke, lock and key, lover’s knots, and monograms were popular wedding designs created using wire forms and were usually the most impressive arrangements. The set pieces were placed in the most visible locations, such as in front of mirrors or over the fireplace, and they were hung from the ceiling in doorways and archways of the bay window or elevated on the mantle. A bell of fresh flowers was frequently used to designate the place where the wedding ceremony would take place. The bell would often have ribbons, streamers, and even garlands of flowers hanging down or radiating out from it or the clapper might be replaced with a dove holding orange blossoms in its beak. The bell flower frame was also popular for church holidays and special occasions, especially at Christmas time.
Label Text
Set pieces or set designs were among the most popular floral arrangements in the second half of the nineteenth century. The term set piece is a usually applied to designs in a wide variety of forms, which are often symbolic in character. Shapes that expressed an overall theme for an occasion were very fashionable, such as designs made to depict the profession, associations, or hobbies of an individual. These flower arrangements were ordered for special celebrations, holidays, weddings, and funerals. Typical of the Victorian style, these designs were elaborate and massive, but unlike other forms of flower arrangement, the set piece was exclusively made by the professional florist.
Set pieces were usually made up on wire frames in the desired shape, which acted as a foundation for the floral arrangement. Commercially produced, heavy-gaged wire frames, fabricated from either plain or copper-plated wire, became available for flower arrangements between 1860 and 1864. The retail florist business was enhanced considerably by the high demand for arrangements on flower frames in the nineteenth century, and wire frames quickly became the basis of the retail florist’s inventory. The frames could be obtained for little cost to the florist, and if he managed to retrieve the skeleton after the occasion, it could be reused. Wire frames came in both straight and curved outlines and either as a box (three-dimensional frame) or flat frame. Most designs came in several sizes and could be hung or placed on a stand or were free-standing. Standard forms in wire works catalogues ranged in size from 10 to 60 inches. Outside of the standard frame designs offered in wireworks and florist’s supplies catalogues, designs could be made for almost any occasion, with some large enough to make life-sized reproductions.
Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century floral fashions changed. Some set pieces faded in popularity by the early 1900s, but some remained favorites well into the 1940’s. Many of these same designs are still used today, but the wire frames have been replaced by shapes made from more modern materials to save the florists’ time in making up the arrangement, as well as providing water to the flowers allowing for greater longevity.
Topic
emblems (symbols)
Floral frames
frame components
wire
associations
bells and sets of bells
ceremonies
decorations
Floral Accessories
Floral decorations
floral designers
Flower arrangement
holidays
symbols
weddings
wirework
See more items in
Horticultural Artifacts Collection
Credit Line
Smithsonian Gardens, Horticultural Artifacts Collection.
Data Source
Smithsonian Gardens
Accession number
1980.037.016
Type
Floral frames
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Medium
Wire
Dimensions
31 × 21 × 21 in. (78.7 × 53.3 × 53.3 cm)
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/aq4c1240107-93db-46bf-948b-90315a386043
Record ID
hac_1980.037.016
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