Lot Essay
The design for these wine coolers was executed by Flaxman circa 1811, illustrated in D. Bindman, John Flaxman R. A., Exhibition Catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1979, no. 193, from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. As one of the leading classical sculptors of the day he produced designs for Josiah Wedgewood and Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, (see notes to lots 69, 110 and 111). The design for the Theocritus Cup was based on the classical literary description of a cup descriped in the First Idyll of Theocritus (circa 300 B.C.- 260 B.C.), quoted by N. M. Penzer in Paul Storr, the Last of the Goldsmiths, London, 1954, p. 154. In the story the shepherd Thrysis is offered the cup, lavishly described in the text, if he will sing a song about Daphnis to the cup's owner, a goatherd. The scene on one side depicts the fisherman and boy who feature in the song. The scene of the woman and her suitors is taken from the 'Orpheus ' relief in the Villa Albani, Rome which Flaxman saw when in Italy (1787-1794). A Theocritus Cup of 1812 was presented to King George IV as a gift from his wife Queen Charlotte and remains in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen. It was exhibited at The Queen's Gallery, London, Carlton House, the past Glories of King George IV's Palace, 1991, no. 86.