Lot Essay
These Egyptian porphyry vases, with their 'enfants satire' mounts emblematic of the education of Bacchus, are likely to have been acquired by Frederick William, 5th Earl of Bristol in the early 19th Century. Raised to the Marquessate in 1826 by his brother-in-law, the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool, Lord Bristol travelled extensively on the Continent and bought much in Paris and in Italy in the 1820's, as well as through the London marchand-mercier Edward Holmes Baldock (d. 1845).
A closely related pair in porphyry, although with garlanded vines, was sold in these Rooms by Peter Whitbread Esq., 22 April 1982, lot 17, while a further pair of Egyptian alabaster, from the collection of Mrs. Robert Tritton, Godmersham Park, Kent, was sold at Christie's house sale, 6-9 June 1983, lot 323 (and again, anonymously in these Rooms, 13 June 1991, lot 11).
A closely related pair in porphyry, although with garlanded vines, was sold in these Rooms by Peter Whitbread Esq., 22 April 1982, lot 17, while a further pair of Egyptian alabaster, from the collection of Mrs. Robert Tritton, Godmersham Park, Kent, was sold at Christie's house sale, 6-9 June 1983, lot 323 (and again, anonymously in these Rooms, 13 June 1991, lot 11).