MARK OF ROBERT GARRARD, LONDON, 1814

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE III SILVER WINE-COOLERS AND COLLARS
MARK OF ROBERT GARRARD, LONDON, 1814
Of Sutherland pattern, the inverted pear-shaped bodies each on spreading circular foot cast and chased with bacchic goat's masks, shells and vines, the lower part of the bodies cast and chased with stiff leaves, below two shaped putto mask, shell, scroll, flower and foliage cartouche hung between with floral swags all on a scalework ground, with two putto mask, flower and scroll handles, engraved with a coat-of-arms, each with silver collar and plated liner, each marked underneath and on collar
10½ in. (26.5 cm.) high
265 oz. (8,238 gr.)
The arms are those of Langman granted to John Lawrence Langman (1846-1928) of Stanhope Terrace, Hyde Park, London and The Deanery, Great Marlow, co. Bucks, later created a baronet in 1906. He was married to Mary Hannah (d.1902), daughter of James Marks of London. The title passed to their son and subsequently to their grandson, Sir John Langman, 3rd and last Bt. (1912-1985). John Langman was a Knight of Grace of Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He maintained the Langman Field Hospital during the South African War in which his son Archie Lawrence Langman fought, serving with the Middlesex Yeomanry Cavalry. (2)

Provenance

Sir John Lawrence Langman 1st Bt. (1846-1928) and then by descent to
Sir John Langman 3rd Bt. (b.1912)
Sir John Langman Bt.; Sotheby's London, 25 October 1962, lot 27 (£900 to Rayman)
On loan to the Prime Minister's London residence, 10 Downing Street, until May 1997.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

These extraordinary coolers are copied from the Bridgewater/Sutherland wine-coolers made by Paul de Lamerie in 1749 for Francis, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater (1736-1803), Christie's London, 14 June 2005, lot 263. That pair would appear to be the only surviving example in Lamerie's fully developed rococo style. The outline of the wine-coolers is inspired by French silver forms of the 1720s such as a Louis XV wine-cooler, by Thomas Germain, Paris, 1727-8 in the collection of the Louvre, Paris, (T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles, 1988, p.264).

The ornament follows the appropriate precedent of bacchic attributes as befits a receptacle for a wine bottle. Bacchic acanthus foliage encircles the lower part of the body above the foot cast with a border of scrolling vines, flowers and bacchic goats. The bacchic putto is used to great decorative effect with the flower garlands, which are hung between the handles and cartouches, being held aloft by a putto emerging from behind the cartouche. All these are cast and chased against a background of matted scalework.

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