Lot Essay
The ascos jug follows an ancient Greek prototype used as a receptacle for the oil burnt in lamps. Its unusual form is derived from early examples which were fashioned from leather. A number of examples by Paul Storr are known (see M. Clayton, The Christie's Pictorial History of English and American Silver, Oxford, 1985, p.256, fig.3). A pair of William IV frosted glass and silver-mounted ascos jugs with fox finials and vine handles were exhibited London, Asprey, Silver From a Golden Age, 1640-1840, 1994, no. 67. The differing decoration is based on the Aesop's fable The Fox and the Grapes.