19TH CENTURY, AFTER THE MODEL BY MATTHEW BOULTON

The sale of Messrs. Boulton and Fothergill's Manufactory, at Messrs. Christie and Ansell's on April 11-13, 1771, included a dozen vases described as being in 'the antique taste radix amethysti [bluejohn] and ormolu, lined with silver and perferated for essence, supported by four sphinxes upon an ornamented base of ebony'. A pair of bluejohn vases of this model were supplied to George III in 1771 by Boulton and are in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle (N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, p. 163 and pl. 94). The present lot belongs to a group of perfume-burners which may relate to those in the Boulton and Fothergill sale of 20 May 1778, lots 6, 12, 24, 34 and 35, as 'One pair of statuary marble vases on pedestals, mounted in ormolu and perforated for essences'. Several variations on this model have been sold at auction in the last thirty years. A pair belonging to Lord Wharton, was sold in these Rooms, twice, 19 March, 1970, lot 21 and again anonymously, 6 July 1972, lot 5. Another pair was sold by Mrs. Raymond Gibbs, in these Rooms, 12 March 1981, lot 2. A further pair, without covers and with the same mask as above, was sold anonymously, Sotheby's Monaco, 23-24 June 1985, lot 913.