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Lot Essay
'ONE OF THE FINEST AND GRANDEST SET OF IRISH SILVER'
The present jug belongs to a highly important group of Irish sideboard plate engraved with the Royal Arms of Queen Anne, all fashioned by the leading Dublin silversmith, Thomas Bolton. The group consists of a ewer (lot 249) and a sideboard dish en suite, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc. no. 55.382), together with a further jug, the pair to the present lot, last at auction at Christie's, New York, 28 April 1992, lot 262. It is now in the San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas. (obj. no. 2004.13.10). Ellenor Alcorn, in her catalogue of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, op. cit., p. 117, describes the four sideboard objects as 'one of the finest and grandest sets of Irish silver known'. She observes that they 'suggest the ambition of the Dublin silversmiths to match the work of their London counterparts'.
THOMAS BOLTON AND THE DUKE OF ORMONDE
Ellenor Alcorn suggests that this group of sideboard plate may have been granted by the Irish House of Lords, the House of Commons or the Dublin city corporation. She notes that the receiver general of Ireland made payment of a large sum to James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (1665-1745) on 12 February 1703. He was given £3,000 'for his equipage as Lord-Lieutenant and his voyage to Ireland'. On his arrival in Dublin in May 1703, Butler was welcomed at the Tholsel, or city hall, in Dublin by the lord mayor and a committee of aldermen. A member of the committee was Thomas Bolton, Master of Works for the city of Dublin, and the goldsmith who created the four pieces of sideboard plate.
Due to his proximity to the event it is not surprising that Bolton was the maker of the four pieces. His involvement in these public proceedings is understandable given his prominence in Dublin society. Bolton became a freeman of the Dublin Goldsmiths' Company in 1686, warden in 1690, assay master in 1692, and later rose to become Lord Mayor of Dublin. Despite this tantalising connection to the Duke of Ormonde, as noted by Thomas Sinsteden in his study of the Duke's inventories, op. cit., p. 125, n. 6, the 1705 inventory of the Duke's silver at Dublin and Kilkenny Castles (National Library of Ireland, MS. 2521) does not identify the group.T
It has been suggested that the ewer and sideboard dish were race prizes for The King’s Plate, established under King William III in 1696, and known to have been scheduled to take place on the Curragh racecourse in Kildare on the 16 September 1703. It was the duty of the Lord Lieutenant to attend the race and the Duke of Ormonde may have presented the plate as a prize on behalf of the monarch, as discussed in the catalogue note for lot 249. It is possible the pair of jugs were similarly race prizes, or alternatively that they may have been part of the grant paid to the Duke for 'his equipage as Lord-Lieutenant' but were omitted from the various inventories of his plate discussed in detail by Thomas Sinsteden in his study of the Duke's inventories, op. cit., p. 125.
The present jug belongs to a highly important group of Irish sideboard plate engraved with the Royal Arms of Queen Anne, all fashioned by the leading Dublin silversmith, Thomas Bolton. The group consists of a ewer (lot 249) and a sideboard dish en suite, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc. no. 55.382), together with a further jug, the pair to the present lot, last at auction at Christie's, New York, 28 April 1992, lot 262. It is now in the San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas. (obj. no. 2004.13.10). Ellenor Alcorn, in her catalogue of the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, op. cit., p. 117, describes the four sideboard objects as 'one of the finest and grandest sets of Irish silver known'. She observes that they 'suggest the ambition of the Dublin silversmiths to match the work of their London counterparts'.
THOMAS BOLTON AND THE DUKE OF ORMONDE
Ellenor Alcorn suggests that this group of sideboard plate may have been granted by the Irish House of Lords, the House of Commons or the Dublin city corporation. She notes that the receiver general of Ireland made payment of a large sum to James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (1665-1745) on 12 February 1703. He was given £3,000 'for his equipage as Lord-Lieutenant and his voyage to Ireland'. On his arrival in Dublin in May 1703, Butler was welcomed at the Tholsel, or city hall, in Dublin by the lord mayor and a committee of aldermen. A member of the committee was Thomas Bolton, Master of Works for the city of Dublin, and the goldsmith who created the four pieces of sideboard plate.
Due to his proximity to the event it is not surprising that Bolton was the maker of the four pieces. His involvement in these public proceedings is understandable given his prominence in Dublin society. Bolton became a freeman of the Dublin Goldsmiths' Company in 1686, warden in 1690, assay master in 1692, and later rose to become Lord Mayor of Dublin. Despite this tantalising connection to the Duke of Ormonde, as noted by Thomas Sinsteden in his study of the Duke's inventories, op. cit., p. 125, n. 6, the 1705 inventory of the Duke's silver at Dublin and Kilkenny Castles (National Library of Ireland, MS. 2521) does not identify the group.T
It has been suggested that the ewer and sideboard dish were race prizes for The King’s Plate, established under King William III in 1696, and known to have been scheduled to take place on the Curragh racecourse in Kildare on the 16 September 1703. It was the duty of the Lord Lieutenant to attend the race and the Duke of Ormonde may have presented the plate as a prize on behalf of the monarch, as discussed in the catalogue note for lot 249. It is possible the pair of jugs were similarly race prizes, or alternatively that they may have been part of the grant paid to the Duke for 'his equipage as Lord-Lieutenant' but were omitted from the various inventories of his plate discussed in detail by Thomas Sinsteden in his study of the Duke's inventories, op. cit., p. 125.