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Lot Essay
Matthew Boulton campaigned for Assay offices to be established in Birmingham and Sheffield. In 1773, Boulton finally succeeded and Assay Offices were established by Act of Parliament. It must have been gratifying for him to see works such as the present lot, among the first items to be hallmarked.
The shape of this tureen with its loop handles and part-fluted urn-shaped body is closely related to a design drawing for a sauce tureen in the Bolton and Fothergill Pattern Book (reproduced in R. Rowe, Adam Silver: 1765-1795, London, 1965, pl. 57, no. 9). The frieze relates to a design for a soup tureen in the same (op. cit., pl. 48). In their book, The Great Silver Manufactory: Matthew Boulton & the Birmingham Silversmiths 1760-1790 (London, 1971), Eric Delieb and Machel Roberts suggest that these tureens were designed by the preeminent Neo-Classical designer Robert Adam. Adam was employed by Boulton from about 1771 and was commissioned to design a number of pieces of silverware for his clients which include the Duke of Roxburgh. The pendant swags of husks on the present lot relate to a number of Adam designs.
Charles Vere (1715-1789) was a china retailer turned banker whose firm financed Matthew Boulton and James Wyatt's joint enterprises between 1778 and 1785. He inherited wealth from his cousin, Joseph Vere (d. 1766), a banker who simultaneously served as Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths' Company. In celebration of Vere's weeding to Martha Lucas in 1771, their friend Matthew Boulton was commissioned to produce a number of pieces for the couple. These include the present lot, matching a pair in the collection of the Birmingham Assay office, as well as a set of four wine coasters also of 1773.
The shape of this tureen with its loop handles and part-fluted urn-shaped body is closely related to a design drawing for a sauce tureen in the Bolton and Fothergill Pattern Book (reproduced in R. Rowe, Adam Silver: 1765-1795, London, 1965, pl. 57, no. 9). The frieze relates to a design for a soup tureen in the same (op. cit., pl. 48). In their book, The Great Silver Manufactory: Matthew Boulton & the Birmingham Silversmiths 1760-1790 (London, 1971), Eric Delieb and Machel Roberts suggest that these tureens were designed by the preeminent Neo-Classical designer Robert Adam. Adam was employed by Boulton from about 1771 and was commissioned to design a number of pieces of silverware for his clients which include the Duke of Roxburgh. The pendant swags of husks on the present lot relate to a number of Adam designs.
Charles Vere (1715-1789) was a china retailer turned banker whose firm financed Matthew Boulton and James Wyatt's joint enterprises between 1778 and 1785. He inherited wealth from his cousin, Joseph Vere (d. 1766), a banker who simultaneously served as Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths' Company. In celebration of Vere's weeding to Martha Lucas in 1771, their friend Matthew Boulton was commissioned to produce a number of pieces for the couple. These include the present lot, matching a pair in the collection of the Birmingham Assay office, as well as a set of four wine coasters also of 1773.