Lot Essay
The arms are those of O'Brien. See D. S. Howard, op.cit., p.276. This service was probably made for Charles, 6th Viscount O'Brien of Clare. He commanded the Irish Brigade in the French Army at the battles of Dettingen, Fontenoy and Laffeldt, and was made a Knight of the Order of the Holy Ghost (Saint-Esprit) in 1746 and was created Marshal Thormond in 1757. See M. Beurdeley, op.cit., 1962, cat.60, for an ice-pail from this service, formerly in the Pierre Blazy Collection, Paris. Beurdeley points out that since the arms do not show a Marshal's baton, one can conclude that the service was commissioned between 1746 and 1757.