COADE, LAMBETH, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Eleanor Coade's 'Artificial Stone Manufactory' was established at King's Arms Stairs, Lambeth in 1769. Eleanor Coade was one of a handful of independent women in the eighteenth century who began their own businesses and managed them successfully. The business produced sculpture and decorative architectural ornament in a material - today referred to as 'Coade' stone - which could be cast in complex forms and which was highly resistant to damage from the elements. There are 34 designs listed in the Coade catalogue of 1784 for garden vases and urns (see A. Kelly, Mrs Coade's Stone, 1980, pp. 195-6), and the present large cistern was listed as '126 An Oval Ciftern, ornamented with Leopards' Heads and Feftoons of Grapes'.