Lot Essay
These cassettes formerlu tood on the mantelpiece of the White Parlor at Winterthur.
The design for these cassolettes, is clearly influenced by the neoclassical designs of Sir William Chambers from the 1760's in such details as the swagged lion's masks and Greek key fret. It has been tentatively identified by Sir Nicholas Goodison as the type known as the 'Cleopatra' vase (see: N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, pp. 150-151 and figs. 109-115). He identifies two versions, one with stepped square base, and spherical feet, and a later variant like the offered lot with circular pedestal, more usually in blue-john. A sketch for the earlier version is in Boulton and Fothergill's Pattern Book I, p. 71 (illustrated N. Goodison op. cit. pl. 1615). Closely related examples were sold Christie's London, 7 July 1994, lot 15 and from the collection of Eric Moller, Sotheby's London, 18th November 1993, lot 99 (with the same ormolu cylindrical stem as the offered lot). Another pair was sold by the Executors of the late A.H. Soames, Christie's London, 28 May 1964, lot 7 and another is illustrated in Stevens and Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture: The Norman Adams Collection, London, 1983, p.474.
The design for these cassolettes, is clearly influenced by the neoclassical designs of Sir William Chambers from the 1760's in such details as the swagged lion's masks and Greek key fret. It has been tentatively identified by Sir Nicholas Goodison as the type known as the 'Cleopatra' vase (see: N. Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, pp. 150-151 and figs. 109-115). He identifies two versions, one with stepped square base, and spherical feet, and a later variant like the offered lot with circular pedestal, more usually in blue-john. A sketch for the earlier version is in Boulton and Fothergill's Pattern Book I, p. 71 (illustrated N. Goodison op. cit. pl. 1615). Closely related examples were sold Christie's London, 7 July 1994, lot 15 and from the collection of Eric Moller, Sotheby's London, 18th November 1993, lot 99 (with the same ormolu cylindrical stem as the offered lot). Another pair was sold by the Executors of the late A.H. Soames, Christie's London, 28 May 1964, lot 7 and another is illustrated in Stevens and Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture: The Norman Adams Collection, London, 1983, p.474.