Designed in the George III neo-classical style, the vases' ovoid bodies of Derbyshire blue-john are embellished with ormolu mounts in the French manner. Bacchic ram masks, tied to the ribbon-guilloche necks, are festooned with loose ribbon-tied laurels and supported by voluted acanthus-enriched handles which spring from the foliate bands. Their waisted and laurel-wreathed stems are supported on double-stepped 'krepidoma' plinths. The reversible acanthus-wrapped domed lids with thysrus finials conceal krater-vase candle-nozzles. Manufactured by Matthew Boulton and John Fothergill of Birmingham, their basic pattern features in the firm's Pattern Book I, pl. 170, and is illustrated in N. Goodison, Ormolu, The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, pl. 163, fig. m.
A cassolette vase of related pattern is illustrated by Goodison op.cit,, pl 141. An almost identical pair of vases was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 19 November 1981, lot 8