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Lot Essay
This massive golden bronze sideboard-cellaret for wine-bottles is designed in the robust French/Grecian manner adopted by George IV, while Prince of Wales. Its festive ornament alludes to the Roman wine and poetry deities Bacchus and Apollo. Bacchic ivy wreaths its thyrsic finialed and Apollo palm-flowered dome while bacchic lion paws support its palm-enwreathed sarcophagus chest, which is enriched by a bacchic bas-relief trophy of ivy-twined thyrsae. Patterns for related eight or twelve bottled cellarets feature in George Smith's Cabinet-maker and Upholsterers Guide, 1826.
The cellaret may be the work of William Bullock who began his career in Liverpool, opening a public museum or 'Cabinet of Curiosities' in 1800 and dealing in bronzes and other ornamental wares. By 1805, he had moved to larger premises in Church Street, advertising his 'Museum and Bronze Manufactory' and his 'New Egyptian Hall'. His advertisement boasts of a 'complete and entire new assortment of every article in Bronze Figure and Ornamental Business' as well as a variety of furniture types (Gore's 'General Advertiser'). Brother to George, the celebrated cabinet-maker, William was the first to transfer his business to London, building a new 'Egyptian Hall' on Piccadilly designed for the 'reception, exhibition and sale, by commission, of every article connected with the Fine Arts, Antiquity and Natural History'. A view of the Roman Gallery at the Egyptian Hall, published in 1816, shows a display of furniture including a 'bronzed Griffin tripod', derived from the antique. A pair of cast-iron tripods of this model stamped "W. Bullock PUB. 1 JUNE 1805' was supplied by George Bullock in 1814 for Hinton House, near Bath (M. Levy, 'The Roman Gallery at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and Some Tripods By William Bullock and George Bullock', Furniture History, 1997, pp. 234-5, figs. 5-8). The above collaboration is but one indication that there was an interdependence between the enterprises of George and William, but the degree of cooperation is not fully known. The design for this tripod as well as the other stands in the view of the Roman Gallery appears in the book of designs for furniture, interiors and metalwork, entitled Tracings by Thomas Wilkinson from the designs of the late Mr. George Bullock of 1820. The rendering of the mounts and finial relate to specific drawings in The Tracings (as reproduced in George Bullock Cabinet-Maker, H. Blairman & Sons, London, exhibition catalogue, 1988, p. 73, fig. 27 and p. 38, fig. 11, respectively), while designs for cellarets figure in an elevation plan for the Dining Room at Armadal Castle (Blairman, p. 31, fig. 5). A working drawing of a wine cooler attributed to George Bullock is in the archives at Great Tew Park, where he worked extensively, and features similar lion mask and ring handles (reproduced in Christie's sale catalogue, Great Tew Park, 27-29 May 1987, accompanying lot 149).
It is also worth noting the similarity of the lion mask handles to mounts on a chimney-piece supplied by Benjamin Vulliamy (d.1811) and his son Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d.1854) for the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 1807 (G. de Bellaigue, 'The Vulliamys' Chimney-Pieces', Furniture History, 1997, p. 207, fig. 6.
THE PROVENANCE
The wine cooler once formed part of the personal collection of Lucie and Joachim Schuller whose military treasures became the core of Glenbow's renowned Military History collection - spanning nearly five centuries of history, the collection of over 28,000 objects is the largest and most diverse in Canada. The couple first opened the Schuller Museum of Art and Chivalry in New Hampshire. The collection of militaria and decorative arts became part of the Riveredge Foundation in Calgary in 1973 (the Riveredge Collection was given to Glenbow in 1979). The Schullers moved to Calgary that same year to be close to the collection that they formed with such passion.
The cellaret may be the work of William Bullock who began his career in Liverpool, opening a public museum or 'Cabinet of Curiosities' in 1800 and dealing in bronzes and other ornamental wares. By 1805, he had moved to larger premises in Church Street, advertising his 'Museum and Bronze Manufactory' and his 'New Egyptian Hall'. His advertisement boasts of a 'complete and entire new assortment of every article in Bronze Figure and Ornamental Business' as well as a variety of furniture types (Gore's 'General Advertiser'). Brother to George, the celebrated cabinet-maker, William was the first to transfer his business to London, building a new 'Egyptian Hall' on Piccadilly designed for the 'reception, exhibition and sale, by commission, of every article connected with the Fine Arts, Antiquity and Natural History'. A view of the Roman Gallery at the Egyptian Hall, published in 1816, shows a display of furniture including a 'bronzed Griffin tripod', derived from the antique. A pair of cast-iron tripods of this model stamped "W. Bullock PUB. 1 JUNE 1805' was supplied by George Bullock in 1814 for Hinton House, near Bath (M. Levy, 'The Roman Gallery at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, and Some Tripods By William Bullock and George Bullock', Furniture History, 1997, pp. 234-5, figs. 5-8). The above collaboration is but one indication that there was an interdependence between the enterprises of George and William, but the degree of cooperation is not fully known. The design for this tripod as well as the other stands in the view of the Roman Gallery appears in the book of designs for furniture, interiors and metalwork, entitled Tracings by Thomas Wilkinson from the designs of the late Mr. George Bullock of 1820. The rendering of the mounts and finial relate to specific drawings in The Tracings (as reproduced in George Bullock Cabinet-Maker, H. Blairman & Sons, London, exhibition catalogue, 1988, p. 73, fig. 27 and p. 38, fig. 11, respectively), while designs for cellarets figure in an elevation plan for the Dining Room at Armadal Castle (Blairman, p. 31, fig. 5). A working drawing of a wine cooler attributed to George Bullock is in the archives at Great Tew Park, where he worked extensively, and features similar lion mask and ring handles (reproduced in Christie's sale catalogue, Great Tew Park, 27-29 May 1987, accompanying lot 149).
It is also worth noting the similarity of the lion mask handles to mounts on a chimney-piece supplied by Benjamin Vulliamy (d.1811) and his son Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (d.1854) for the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 1807 (G. de Bellaigue, 'The Vulliamys' Chimney-Pieces', Furniture History, 1997, p. 207, fig. 6.
THE PROVENANCE
The wine cooler once formed part of the personal collection of Lucie and Joachim Schuller whose military treasures became the core of Glenbow's renowned Military History collection - spanning nearly five centuries of history, the collection of over 28,000 objects is the largest and most diverse in Canada. The couple first opened the Schuller Museum of Art and Chivalry in New Hampshire. The collection of militaria and decorative arts became part of the Riveredge Foundation in Calgary in 1973 (the Riveredge Collection was given to Glenbow in 1979). The Schullers moved to Calgary that same year to be close to the collection that they formed with such passion.