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Lot Essay
The modelling on the ewer is attributed to Edmund Cotterill (1795-1858), sculptor and head of Garrard's design department. Cotterill attended the Royal Academy Schools in 1820 and exhibited works of sculpture at the Academy (1822-1858) and at the Suffolk Street Galleries (1829-1836). He joined R & S Garrard & Co. in 1833. His talent for a naturalistic style of modelling was well-regarded by critics of the day.
Edmund Cotterill designed and modelled many of Garrard's most important commissions, including the Queen's Cup at Ascot for the years 1842, 1848, 1860 and 1861, as well as cups for the Goodwood and Doncaster races. He also contributed many pieces to the Royal Collection, including the Renaissance Centerpiece, 1842, and the Arab Fountain, 1853. "The expertness that Mr. Cotterill exhibits in the delineation of both his human and equine characters is extraordinary. In other works of this class we hear of the design being made by one, the human figures executed by another, the horses by a third artist; but the groups of which we are speaking owe their principal charms and those of consistence between the design, the execution and a well-sustained spirit throughout, [to] the fact of their being the work of one artist alone"(Illustrated London News, vol. 3, 1843, p.69).
Sculptural groups were among the most popular exhibits at the Great Exhibition of 1851. R & S Garrard & Co. were awarded a prize for the best piece of plate - a candelabrum centerpiece in the Moorish style designed by Cotterill. The Illustrated London News wrote that "in no branch of the Fine Arts have the artists of this country made greater progress than in the art of modelling [silver] statuettes...It may indeed be called a national art, and a national manufacture."
(Royal Goldsmiths: The Garrard Heritage, London, 1991, p. 29-31.) A Cotterill-modelled trophy ewer, the Ascot Gold Cup of 1850, which was presented by Tsar Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia and shown at the 1851 Great Exhibition, was sold by Sotheby's Parke Bernet, London, June 4, 1998, lot 164.
Another similar trophy ewer modelled by Edmund Cotterill, the Queen's Cup, Ascot, 1861, sold in these Rooms, April 29, 1987, lot 399.
Edmund Cotterill designed and modelled many of Garrard's most important commissions, including the Queen's Cup at Ascot for the years 1842, 1848, 1860 and 1861, as well as cups for the Goodwood and Doncaster races. He also contributed many pieces to the Royal Collection, including the Renaissance Centerpiece, 1842, and the Arab Fountain, 1853. "The expertness that Mr. Cotterill exhibits in the delineation of both his human and equine characters is extraordinary. In other works of this class we hear of the design being made by one, the human figures executed by another, the horses by a third artist; but the groups of which we are speaking owe their principal charms and those of consistence between the design, the execution and a well-sustained spirit throughout, [to] the fact of their being the work of one artist alone"(Illustrated London News, vol. 3, 1843, p.69).
Sculptural groups were among the most popular exhibits at the Great Exhibition of 1851. R & S Garrard & Co. were awarded a prize for the best piece of plate - a candelabrum centerpiece in the Moorish style designed by Cotterill. The Illustrated London News wrote that "in no branch of the Fine Arts have the artists of this country made greater progress than in the art of modelling [silver] statuettes...It may indeed be called a national art, and a national manufacture."
(Royal Goldsmiths: The Garrard Heritage, London, 1991, p. 29-31.) A Cotterill-modelled trophy ewer, the Ascot Gold Cup of 1850, which was presented by Tsar Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia and shown at the 1851 Great Exhibition, was sold by Sotheby's Parke Bernet, London, June 4, 1998, lot 164.
Another similar trophy ewer modelled by Edmund Cotterill, the Queen's Cup, Ascot, 1861, sold in these Rooms, April 29, 1987, lot 399.