Edward Barnard & Sons
Presentation Centrepiece
Edward Barnard & Sons
London, 1829-1910
Presentation Centrepiece
1850
Silver
58.5 x 33 x 30.5 cm
Weight: 5,466.2 g
Presented to George Okill Stuart (1807-1884), Mayor of Quebec City, upon his retirement February 4, 1850
Gift of the Honourable Serge Joyal, P.C., C.C., O.Q., in memory of the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau, inv. 2004.269
Decorative Arts and Design
The major British silver manufacturer Edward Barnard & Sons designed this presentation piece for Quebec City mayor George Okill Stuart for his retirement in 1850. It aptly displays symbolic imagery for an emerging nation: roses, thistles and shamrocks stand for citizens of English, Scottish and Irish ancestry; the future national emblems of the maple tree and beavers on the base signify French Canadians. Three personifications of Civic Dignity, Justice and Liberality stand on cartouches, one inscribed with “Justitiae Propositique Tenax” [steadfast in justice and resolve].
