Lot Essay
The arms are those of Agar quarterly with those of Ellis, as borne by Welbore Ellis, 2nd Earl of Normanton, born in 1778. His father, sometime Archbishop of Cashel and later of Dublin, had amassed a great fortune and acquired three peerages: "he had originally had but a moderate fortune, but he used it with great management; Had shares in the first national Irish Bank, and changed and chopped his money about and died Earl of Normanton and possessed of 400,000 ... He was a remarkably agreeable man, calculated for conversation with any description of Society" (The Farington Diary, July 31, 1810).
The 2nd Earl succeeded his father in 1809 and in 1816 married Diana, eldest daughter of the 11th Earl of Pembroke. "He was a short and thick-set person, and always dressed in the plainest manner. He was a great connoisseur in works of art" (Vicary Gibbs, quoted in The Complete Peerage). He died in 1868 in his 90th year.
These wine coolers are two of an original set of four; the other two are in the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles and illustrated in Schroder, The Francis E. Fowler, Jr. Collection of Silver, 1991, no. 9.
The 2nd Earl succeeded his father in 1809 and in 1816 married Diana, eldest daughter of the 11th Earl of Pembroke. "He was a short and thick-set person, and always dressed in the plainest manner. He was a great connoisseur in works of art" (Vicary Gibbs, quoted in The Complete Peerage). He died in 1868 in his 90th year.
These wine coolers are two of an original set of four; the other two are in the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles and illustrated in Schroder, The Francis E. Fowler, Jr. Collection of Silver, 1991, no. 9.