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Lot Essay
The design for this wine cooler is derived from two drawings in G.B. Piranesi's highly influential publication Vasi, Candelabra, Cippi, Sarcofagi, as it combines the frieze of the Borghese Vase with the calyx, handles, and mask joins from the Medici Krater. A design drawing for a wine cooler which incorporates Piranesi's images has been attributed to J.J. Boileau and is now at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Works in silver executed to this design, with winged-lion bases, include a set of eight silver-gilt wine coolers by Benjamin and James Smith of 1808 in the Royal Collection and illustrated in E.A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, 1911, p. LVII, p. 112, and a pair of wine coolers by Benjamin and James Smith of 1810 depicted in The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, no. 130, p. 169 (see H. Young, "A Further Note on J.J. Boileau, a Forgotten designer of Silver," Apollo, October 1986, pp. 234-37).
The present example was further adapted by the addition of a detachable grape-cluster collar and cover and winged-lion bases. A pair of wine coolers with detachable shoulders and covers, without the winged-lion base, by Benjamin Smith of 1818, sold at Christie's, London, 22 May 1991, lot 173.
This cup also bears the retailer's stamp of Thomas Hamlet. Thought to be the illegitimate son of Sir Francis Dashwood, the notorious founder of the Hellfire Club, Hamlet opened a silver and jewelry retail shop in 1800. He was very successful in catering to the upper classes, but eventually was ruined by risky financial speculations.
Photo caption:
Engraving of the Borghese Vase depicting bacchanalian frieze, G.B. Piranesi, Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi..., 1778
Courtesy Art and Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library
Photo caption:
Engraving of the Medici Krater, G.B. Piranesi, Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi..., 1778
Courtesy Art and Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library
Photo caption:
Design for a wine cooler attributed to J.J. Boileau
Courtesy Board of Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum
Works in silver executed to this design, with winged-lion bases, include a set of eight silver-gilt wine coolers by Benjamin and James Smith of 1808 in the Royal Collection and illustrated in E.A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, 1911, p. LVII, p. 112, and a pair of wine coolers by Benjamin and James Smith of 1810 depicted in The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, no. 130, p. 169 (see H. Young, "A Further Note on J.J. Boileau, a Forgotten designer of Silver," Apollo, October 1986, pp. 234-37).
The present example was further adapted by the addition of a detachable grape-cluster collar and cover and winged-lion bases. A pair of wine coolers with detachable shoulders and covers, without the winged-lion base, by Benjamin Smith of 1818, sold at Christie's, London, 22 May 1991, lot 173.
This cup also bears the retailer's stamp of Thomas Hamlet. Thought to be the illegitimate son of Sir Francis Dashwood, the notorious founder of the Hellfire Club, Hamlet opened a silver and jewelry retail shop in 1800. He was very successful in catering to the upper classes, but eventually was ruined by risky financial speculations.
Photo caption:
Engraving of the Borghese Vase depicting bacchanalian frieze, G.B. Piranesi, Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi..., 1778
Courtesy Art and Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library
Photo caption:
Engraving of the Medici Krater, G.B. Piranesi, Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi..., 1778
Courtesy Art and Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library
Photo caption:
Design for a wine cooler attributed to J.J. Boileau
Courtesy Board of Trustees of the Victoria & Albert Museum