MAKER'S MARK OF ROBERT HENNELL II, LONDON, 1820

The inspiration for this tea service is the 2nd century AD Warwick vase, found in fragments at the bottom of a lake at Hadrian's villa, Tivoli, in 1770. Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Naples, paid for the reconstruction of the vase, writing "it has cost me near L300, for I was obliged to cut a block of marble at Carrara to repair it, which has been hollowed out & the fragments fixed on it, by which means the Vase is as firm and entire as the day it was made." After unsuccessfully trying to sell the piece to the British Museum, Hamilton sold it to his nephew George, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746-1816). Standing over 6 feet in height and weighing 8½ tons, the vase was displayed on the grounds of Warwick Castle, where it remained until it was sold in 1977. Today the vase resides in the Burrell Collection in Edinburgh (Richard Marks and Brian J. R. Bench, The Warwick Vase, 1979).

The vase gained further renown through publications such as Piranesi's Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi, 1778, which inspired silversmiths to manufacture presentation vases, soup tureens and wine coolers. Far more uncommon, however, are adaptations of the Warwick vase to other forms in silver, and this tea and coffee service is the only example known.

SUPP IMAGE TEXT
The Warwick Vase in the specially built greenhouse on the grounds of Warwick Castle, depicted in Warwick and Warwick Castle Illustrated, circa 1840, courtesy Warwick Castle Collection.