Lot Essay
William Noel Hill was born in 1773. He was M.P. for Shrewsbury from 1796-1812, and served as Envoy to Rattisbon 1805-7. In 1807 his diplomatic career took him as Ambassador to the Court of Sardinia, and subsequently to Naples at the Court of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In 1824 he was created Privy Councillor. During the course of his 25 years in Italy, William Noel Hill amassed a large collection of Paintings, Books and Furniture, some possibly made for Napoleon's sister, Caroline Murat, whose palace in Naples was subsequently occupied by Hill. He also acquired a magnificent collection of silver, in addition to the 6,000 ozs. he would have been supplied with as an ambassador from Messrs. Rundell, Bridge and Rundell. They appear to have supplied most of the Warwick vases, like the above pair, including the set of 12, also by Paul Storr, commissioned by the Prince Regent, now at Windsor Castle.
The original Warwick vase, dating from the 2nd Century AD, was 6ft. high and of marble. Discovered in pieces in1770 at the bottom of a lake at Hadrian's Villa near Rome, it was acquired by Sir William Hamilton, then Ambassador to Naples. He restored and sold it to the Earl of Warwick, who had it set up at Warwick Castle. The later engravings of it by Piranesi, in 1778, were the source for many versions of the vase during the Regency period.
Storr also made the massive silver dinner service, silver-gilt centrepiece, candlesticks and wine coasters between 1810-1820, now displayed at Attingham Park in Shropshire. Attingham had been inherited by William on the death of his brother Thomas Noel Hill, 2nd Baron Berwick, who had become bankrupt and sold its contents in 1827, including a large quantity of silver.
William brought his extensive collection to Attingham, where he lived until his death in 1842. His acquisitions typified the taste and connoisseurship of the Regency period. In Genoa, in 1823, he entertained Lord Byron, who wrote of the meeting in a letter 'Tomorrow I dine with our Excellence - the only one of our diplomatists I ever knew who really is excellent.'
In N.M. Penzer, Paul Storr, The Last of the Goldsmiths, 1954, p.27, Warwick vases are described thus: "Of all the classical objects brought to this country from Italy in the eighteenth century the most spectacular, if not most important was undoubtedly the huge white-marble two-handled vase, which, after its purchase in 1774 by the Earl of Warwick, became known as the Warwick Vase. Four years later Piranesi published three very fine engravings of it, and in 1800 an account of it appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine. The very shape of the vase, quite apart from the classical masks and Bacchic emblems with which it was enriched, suggested endless possibilities to the silversmith, and Storr was soon producing ice-pails, soup tureens and centrepieces based on the original."
The original Warwick vase, dating from the 2nd Century AD, was 6ft. high and of marble. Discovered in pieces in1770 at the bottom of a lake at Hadrian's Villa near Rome, it was acquired by Sir William Hamilton, then Ambassador to Naples. He restored and sold it to the Earl of Warwick, who had it set up at Warwick Castle. The later engravings of it by Piranesi, in 1778, were the source for many versions of the vase during the Regency period.
Storr also made the massive silver dinner service, silver-gilt centrepiece, candlesticks and wine coasters between 1810-1820, now displayed at Attingham Park in Shropshire. Attingham had been inherited by William on the death of his brother Thomas Noel Hill, 2nd Baron Berwick, who had become bankrupt and sold its contents in 1827, including a large quantity of silver.
William brought his extensive collection to Attingham, where he lived until his death in 1842. His acquisitions typified the taste and connoisseurship of the Regency period. In Genoa, in 1823, he entertained Lord Byron, who wrote of the meeting in a letter 'Tomorrow I dine with our Excellence - the only one of our diplomatists I ever knew who really is excellent.'
In N.M. Penzer, Paul Storr, The Last of the Goldsmiths, 1954, p.27, Warwick vases are described thus: "Of all the classical objects brought to this country from Italy in the eighteenth century the most spectacular, if not most important was undoubtedly the huge white-marble two-handled vase, which, after its purchase in 1774 by the Earl of Warwick, became known as the Warwick Vase. Four years later Piranesi published three very fine engravings of it, and in 1800 an account of it appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine. The very shape of the vase, quite apart from the classical masks and Bacchic emblems with which it was enriched, suggested endless possibilities to the silversmith, and Storr was soon producing ice-pails, soup tureens and centrepieces based on the original."