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Lot Essay
The vase relates closely to the oeuvre of Matthew Boulton who established his workshop at Soho, Birmingham, in the early 1770s. From the 1760s the vogue in Great Britain for the 'antique taste' was encouraged in various forms by architects and designers such as James and Robert Adam, Sir William Chambers, and James 'Athenian' Stuart. On the advice of Lord Shelburne, Boulton purchased a copy of Adam's Ruins in the of the Palace of Diocletian at Spaltro in Dalmatia in 1765, and the work must have had a profound effect in training Boulton's eye in the classical repertoire.
Variations on this basic pattern include examples with looped and scrolled handles, the latter corresponding to the design in Boulton's Pattern Book, p.170 (Nicholas Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, p. 293, pl. 257). The classical medallion relates to a series of vases that date from 1770 - 75, though here it adorns the plinth rather than the body of the vase, as in the case of another Pattern Book design, p. 171 ( ibid. p. 315, pl. 303). The source for the medallions is thought to be Boulton's friend Josiah Wedgwood, being almost identical to the cameos and intaglios made by Wedgwood and his partner James Tassie. All derive from the same classical source of Renaissance gems: many gem collections in Europe were widely published at this time and Boulton's library is recorded to contain A.F. Gori's Museum Florentinum (1731-1766), in which gems from the Medici collection were engraved. The subjects of the medallions included Venus Victorious, Sacrifice Group, the Heroic Figure and, as in the present lot, Hygieia shown with an olive branch in her right hand, as seen in Tassie's reproduction of Valerio Belli's gem, and holding a snake in her left hand over an altar, missing from Belli's original gem. This was produced by Wedgwood both as an intaglio and as a cameo ( ibid., p. 112, pl. 76.7).
Related pairs of vases on plinths include one sold anonymously at Christie's London, 18 June 2008, lot 1 (£133,250 including premium), and another pair from The Barratt Collection, Crowe Hall, Bath, sold Christie's, London, 16 December 2010, lot 6 (£115,250 including premium).
Variations on this basic pattern include examples with looped and scrolled handles, the latter corresponding to the design in Boulton's Pattern Book, p.170 (Nicholas Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, p. 293, pl. 257). The classical medallion relates to a series of vases that date from 1770 - 75, though here it adorns the plinth rather than the body of the vase, as in the case of another Pattern Book design, p. 171 ( ibid. p. 315, pl. 303). The source for the medallions is thought to be Boulton's friend Josiah Wedgwood, being almost identical to the cameos and intaglios made by Wedgwood and his partner James Tassie. All derive from the same classical source of Renaissance gems: many gem collections in Europe were widely published at this time and Boulton's library is recorded to contain A.F. Gori's Museum Florentinum (1731-1766), in which gems from the Medici collection were engraved. The subjects of the medallions included Venus Victorious, Sacrifice Group, the Heroic Figure and, as in the present lot, Hygieia shown with an olive branch in her right hand, as seen in Tassie's reproduction of Valerio Belli's gem, and holding a snake in her left hand over an altar, missing from Belli's original gem. This was produced by Wedgwood both as an intaglio and as a cameo ( ibid., p. 112, pl. 76.7).
Related pairs of vases on plinths include one sold anonymously at Christie's London, 18 June 2008, lot 1 (£133,250 including premium), and another pair from The Barratt Collection, Crowe Hall, Bath, sold Christie's, London, 16 December 2010, lot 6 (£115,250 including premium).