A PAIR OF REGENCY GILT COPPER CAMPANA-SHAPED WINE-COOLERS

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PROPERTY DESCENDED FROM LORD BLANTYRE OF ERSKINE HOUSE AND LENNOXLOVE The following lots have passed by descent in the ancient Scottish Blantyre family, whose seats include Erskine House, Renfrewshire and Lennoxlove, East Lothian. Lord Blantyre, a title in the Scottish peerage, was awarded to Walter Stuart (or Stewart) (d.1617), Prior of Blantyre, a member of an ancillary branch of the illustrious house of Stuart, on 10 July 1606. The family's ancestors, however, can be traced back further, to the 15th century, when they acquired substantial estates in Roxburghshire, Lanark and Renfrew. Closely associated in political, military and personal capacities to the Stuart monarchy, one of the more infamous episodes involving a family member was Charles II's infatuation with 'la Belle Stuart', Frances Theresa Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and later Lennox, for whom he considered divorcing his queen, Catherine of Braganza. The family seat was Erskine House but in 1703 Alexander, 5th Lord Blantyre, (d.1722) inherited Lennoxlove in Haddingtonshire, or 'Lethington' as it was originally known, from his cousin, the Duchess of Lennox, who requested that it be known as 'Lennox love to Blantyre' or Lennoxlove and thus became another important family residence; the Blantyre family lived at Lennoxlove for nearly 200 years. The baronetcy became extinct at the death of his son, Charles Walter, 12th Lord Blantyre on the 15 December 1900. However, the second daughter of Lord Blantyre had married Sir David Baird, Baronet, of Newbyth, and their second son, William Arthur, inherited Lennoxlove and Erskine.

A PAIR OF REGENCY GILT COPPER CAMPANA-SHAPED WINE-COOLERS

POSSIBLY BY RUNDELL, BRIDGE AND RUNDELL OR MATTHEW BOULTON & CO., CIRCA 1810-20

Details

A PAIR OF REGENCY GILT COPPER CAMPANA-SHAPED WINE-COOLERS
POSSIBLY BY RUNDELL, BRIDGE AND RUNDELL OR MATTHEW BOULTON & CO., CIRCA 1810-20
Each with a gadrooned rim above part reeded bodies bearing the Blantyre arms, the loop handles issuing from Bacchus masks, on a stepped circular foot
9¾ in. (25 cm.) high; 8¾ in. (2 cm.) diameter (2)

Provenance

Almost certainly commissioned by Robert, 11th Lord Blantyre, CB for Erskine House, Renfrewshire, and thence by descent

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

Based on a Greek calyx krater form, inspiration for this pair of wine coolers is from antiquity, possibly derived from Piranesi's influential Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, published in 1778. That volume, together with Thomas Hope's Household Furniture (1807), was influential among metaworkers. London based, Rundell, Bridge & Rundell (active 1804-1834) were producing highly ornamented designs in various metals including gilt bronze, silver gilt, silver and silver plate after designs by Piranesi of the same campana form as the present example. A related, silver gilt and extravagantly decorated wine cooler made by Paul Storr (d.1844), one of the firm's most prestigious craftsmen, is in the collection of the Marquess of Ormonde (Charles Oman, 'A Problem of Artistic Responsibility, The Firm of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell', Apollo, March 1966, p.179, fig.9).
Matthew Boulton's manufactory (d.1809) in Birmingham was also making almost identical wine coolers. A pair of very similar silver plated wine coolers by Boulton and Co., circa 1810, sold Christie's, Great Tew Park house sale, Oxfordshire', 27-19 May 1987, lot 750 (£4620 including premium).
This pair of wine coolers was almost certainly acquired by Robert Walter, 11th Lord Blantyre (d.1830) for Erskine House or Lennoxlove. Robert Walter had a successful military career rising to the rank of lieutenant-general. In 1807, he was elected one of the sixteen Scottish Representative Peers, and served as Lord-Lieutenant of Renfrewshire from 1820-22.

Other comparable models include a George IV silver wine cooler with maker's mark for Matthew Boulton Plate Co., 1825, sold Christie's, New York, 22 October 1998, lot 58 ($10,925 including premium). Another sold Christie's, New York, 26 April 2006, lot 158 ($7,200 including premium), and one with Boulton's mark dated 1825, sold Christie's London, 17 May 2011, lot 266 (/P6875 including premium). An almost identical silver wine cooler is photographed in the Dining Room at Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire (National Trust Photo Library, reference 147870).

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