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Lot Essay
The interior of the lid is engraved with the words 'En memoire du Comte Simon Woronzow. le 21 Juin 1832'.
St. Helens met Count Woronzow during his first diplomatic posting to Russia between 1783 and 1787, at the Court of the Tsarina Catherine II. Of a similar age, the two became friends. On St. Helens' retirement from diplomacy in 1802, Woronzow was over halfway through what was to be a decade as Russian Ambassador to London. The marriage of Woronzow's daughter Catherine to George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke, in January 1808, ensured regular contact in London with St. Helens even after his embassy ended. Possibly a gift from Woronzow to St. Helens, it was on the Russian's death that St. Helens must have added the engraved inscription.
St. Helens met Count Woronzow during his first diplomatic posting to Russia between 1783 and 1787, at the Court of the Tsarina Catherine II. Of a similar age, the two became friends. On St. Helens' retirement from diplomacy in 1802, Woronzow was over halfway through what was to be a decade as Russian Ambassador to London. The marriage of Woronzow's daughter Catherine to George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke, in January 1808, ensured regular contact in London with St. Helens even after his embassy ended. Possibly a gift from Woronzow to St. Helens, it was on the Russian's death that St. Helens must have added the engraved inscription.