Lot Essay
This 'Bacchanalian' or 'Bacchus' pot-pourri vase was executed by Messrs. Boulton and Fothergill of Soho, Birmingham after the design that featured in their Pattern Book, p. 171 (Birmingham City Library: illlustrated in N. Goodison, op. cit., p. 182). Inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, the figurative frieze of this krater-shaped vase depicts 'Mercury delivering the infant Bacchus to the care of Ino' and was designed to 'turn round upon a swivel for the convenience of viewing the bas relief' (Christie and Ansell's Sale Catalogue, 16 May 1778, lot 80).
Its prototype was the celebrated Gaeta antique vase attributed to the Athenian sculptor Salpion, which served as the Baptismal font in the Cathedral at Gaeta before its removal to Naples in 1805 and was depicted in a 1795 sketch for a 'garniture de cheminee' by Charles Heathcote Tatham. As Boulton remarked to his patroness Mrs. Montagu in 1772, 'I am satisfied in..... humble copying their (the ancient Greek) style and making new combinations of old ornaments without presuming to invent new ones'. Thus the 'Bacchus' vase is modified not only in shape and by the addition of a pot-pourri pierced lid from the 'Gaeta' prototypes, but also in the design of the bas-relief, to which Boulton added a Thyrsus, more statuesque figures and two vine stems.
In reality, it is unlikely that Boulton knew of Salpion's vase. Instead his design was almost certainly directly inspired by a bronze reduction manufactured in Rome by Giacomo (d. 1785) and Giovanni Zofoli (d.1805), titled a 'vaso di Gaeta' in Giovanni Zoffoli's 1795 sale catalogue. A Zoffoli vase with the addition of Pompeiian handles, acquired in Rome by Sir James Erskine of Torrie circa 1800, was bequeathed to Edinburgh University in 1824.
Of the recorded 'Bacchus vases', Boulton supplied one to Hugh Smythson, 1st Duke of Northumberland (d. 1786) circa 1770-5 and this remains at Syon House, Middlessex. Two more, reserved at '#14, 6s. 0d', were offered in the Christie and Ansell Sale of May 1778. Of these one may be that recorded in the 1782 inventory following John Fothergill's death, while the other may be the 'ormolu Bacchanalian vase' sold to Lord Stormont in 1783 for '#16, 16. 0d'. Finally, a pair of this model was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 3 July 1980, lot 10.
Its prototype was the celebrated Gaeta antique vase attributed to the Athenian sculptor Salpion, which served as the Baptismal font in the Cathedral at Gaeta before its removal to Naples in 1805 and was depicted in a 1795 sketch for a 'garniture de cheminee' by Charles Heathcote Tatham. As Boulton remarked to his patroness Mrs. Montagu in 1772, 'I am satisfied in..... humble copying their (the ancient Greek) style and making new combinations of old ornaments without presuming to invent new ones'. Thus the 'Bacchus' vase is modified not only in shape and by the addition of a pot-pourri pierced lid from the 'Gaeta' prototypes, but also in the design of the bas-relief, to which Boulton added a Thyrsus, more statuesque figures and two vine stems.
In reality, it is unlikely that Boulton knew of Salpion's vase. Instead his design was almost certainly directly inspired by a bronze reduction manufactured in Rome by Giacomo (d. 1785) and Giovanni Zofoli (d.1805), titled a 'vaso di Gaeta' in Giovanni Zoffoli's 1795 sale catalogue. A Zoffoli vase with the addition of Pompeiian handles, acquired in Rome by Sir James Erskine of Torrie circa 1800, was bequeathed to Edinburgh University in 1824.
Of the recorded 'Bacchus vases', Boulton supplied one to Hugh Smythson, 1st Duke of Northumberland (d. 1786) circa 1770-5 and this remains at Syon House, Middlessex. Two more, reserved at '#14, 6s. 0d', were offered in the Christie and Ansell Sale of May 1778. Of these one may be that recorded in the 1782 inventory following John Fothergill's death, while the other may be the 'ormolu Bacchanalian vase' sold to Lord Stormont in 1783 for '#16, 16. 0d'. Finally, a pair of this model was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 3 July 1980, lot 10.