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Lot Essay
The Doncaster Cup is the oldest true race which has been held continually since its inception. It was first run in 1766, when won by Lord Archibald Hamilton's Charlotte. The race in 1770 was run in two heats over four miles with a small field of horses. It was won by Mr. Fenton's six year old say gelding Liberty, by Turner's Sweepstakes, with odds of 5 to 4. Earlier in the year Liberty won the 50 plate at Malton on 3 May, The Gold Cup at Beverley on 5 June, the Members Plate on 8 June and the Ladies Plate at Lincoln on 3 September. In the Doncaster Cup he beat Mr. Bell's Denmark, who had just won the Richmond Cup. Surprisingly he is recorded as having run in only two further races, at Northallerton on 12 October 1770 and at Carlisle on 8 May 1771.
The vase-shaped the cup, with the spool-shaped cover and scroll handles, is similar in form to the celebrated Richmond Cups designed by Robert Adam (see The Wentworth Sale, Christie's London, 8 July 1998, lot 15). The trailing vine ornament and the gadrooned borders show a transitional use of ornament; a fusion of the earlier rococo style with the high neo-classicism of the Richmond cups. A later Doncaster Cup, of 1778, also by Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp, displays the fully developed neo-classical style (see op. cit, lot 17).
The vase-shaped the cup, with the spool-shaped cover and scroll handles, is similar in form to the celebrated Richmond Cups designed by Robert Adam (see The Wentworth Sale, Christie's London, 8 July 1998, lot 15). The trailing vine ornament and the gadrooned borders show a transitional use of ornament; a fusion of the earlier rococo style with the high neo-classicism of the Richmond cups. A later Doncaster Cup, of 1778, also by Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp, displays the fully developed neo-classical style (see op. cit, lot 17).