Wire frame, lyre, small

Object Details

Date
ca. 1860-1940
Period
Victorian (1837-1901)
Description
The lyre was a popular design for funeral flower tributes in the nineteenth century. It could be free standing, hung, placed on a pillow, or combined with another frame such as a wreath or crescent. The lyre was appropriate for both men and women, the young and the old. The Greek lyre was a symbol of music in classical times and one of Apollo’s attributes. Representing harmony between heaven and earth, the lyre was a symbol of both peace and musical talent. The lyre often will have a broken string to symbolize a life that has been cut short. The strings could be made from a variety of materials including flowers, wire, and fabric strips such as chenille.
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
ceremonies
decorations
Floral Accessories
Floral decorations
floral designers
Flower arrangement
funerals
funerary objects
lyres
secret societies
societies
symbols
weddings
wirework
See more items in
Horticultural Artifacts Collection
Credit Line
Smithsonian Gardens, Horticultural Artifacts Collection.
Data Source
Smithsonian Gardens
Accession number
1985.049
Type
Floral frames
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Medium
Wire
Dimensions
14 1/2 × 9 1/2 × 1 in. (36.8 × 24.1 × 2.5 cm)
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/aq4723c386b-c7b7-43b7-8b87-fa1c01064f14
Record ID
hac_1985.049
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