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Lot Essay
The Form of the the Ice-Pail or Wine-Cooler
Single or pairs of wine-coolers, such as the present lot, developed towards the end of the 17th century. Before then the practise had been to cool wine bottles in large wine-cisterns which weighed 1,000 ounces or more and which rested on the floor. When dining in more intimate numbers became fashionable, the single bottle wine-cooler or ice-pail emerged. The earliest known are a pair of silver-gilt examples also by David Willaume, made for the Duke of Devonshire in 1698. The Duke of Marlborough is recorded to have received 'two ice paills [sic.] 266 [oz.]; 15 [dwt.]; 0 [gr.]' as part of his Ambassadorial grant of plate which he took delivery of from the Jewel House on 3rd September 1701. Other very similar examples are a pair, made by Lewis Mettayer in 1713, issued to Speaker Hanmer and a pair by the same issued to Lord Methuen in 1714, illustrated in M. Clayton, The Collector's Dictionary of Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, 1971, fig. 723. A pair of 1705 by David Willaume, from the Fitzwilliam Collection, were exhibited London, Seaford House, Queen Charlotte's Loan Exhibition of Old Silver, 1929, no. 455 and a pair by Willaume made for Lord Strafford circa 1710 was sold Christie's, London, 23 May 1990, lot 230.
Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne (1835-1914)
Bertie Guest was born at Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. He was the son of Sir John Josiah Guest, 1st Bt. (1785-1852) and his second wife Lady Charlotte Elizabeth (1812-1895), only daughter of Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Linsday (1744-1818). On the death of his father in 1852 he succeeded as 2nd Bt., also inheriting some 84,000 acres of land and the Dowlais Ironworks which by this time had 18 blast furnaces producing 88,400 tons annually and employing 8,800 people. The ironworks had been founded in the mid-18th century and were connected to the Guest family by 1767 when they were being managed by John Guest (1722-1785).
Bertie Guest was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He married, in 1868, Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill (1847-1927), daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, and was thus an uncle-by-marriage of Sir Winston Churchill. During his life he held office as High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1862 and was the mayor of Poole from 1896-1897. He was elevated to the peerage in 1880 as Baron Wimborne, of Canford Magna in the County of Dorset, on Disraeli's initiative. He stood unsuccessfully for election several times, contesting Glamorganshire at the 1874 general election, Poole at a by-election May 1874, and Bristol at a by-election in 1878 and at the 1880 general election.
He died on 22 February 1914 at Canford Manor in Dorset and was succeeded by his son, Ivor Churchill Guest, 2nd Baron Wimborne, 1st Baron Ashby St Ledgers, who was later created Viscount Wimborne.
Single or pairs of wine-coolers, such as the present lot, developed towards the end of the 17th century. Before then the practise had been to cool wine bottles in large wine-cisterns which weighed 1,000 ounces or more and which rested on the floor. When dining in more intimate numbers became fashionable, the single bottle wine-cooler or ice-pail emerged. The earliest known are a pair of silver-gilt examples also by David Willaume, made for the Duke of Devonshire in 1698. The Duke of Marlborough is recorded to have received 'two ice paills [sic.] 266 [oz.]; 15 [dwt.]; 0 [gr.]' as part of his Ambassadorial grant of plate which he took delivery of from the Jewel House on 3rd September 1701. Other very similar examples are a pair, made by Lewis Mettayer in 1713, issued to Speaker Hanmer and a pair by the same issued to Lord Methuen in 1714, illustrated in M. Clayton, The Collector's Dictionary of Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, 1971, fig. 723. A pair of 1705 by David Willaume, from the Fitzwilliam Collection, were exhibited London, Seaford House, Queen Charlotte's Loan Exhibition of Old Silver, 1929, no. 455 and a pair by Willaume made for Lord Strafford circa 1710 was sold Christie's, London, 23 May 1990, lot 230.
Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne (1835-1914)
Bertie Guest was born at Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. He was the son of Sir John Josiah Guest, 1st Bt. (1785-1852) and his second wife Lady Charlotte Elizabeth (1812-1895), only daughter of Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Linsday (1744-1818). On the death of his father in 1852 he succeeded as 2nd Bt., also inheriting some 84,000 acres of land and the Dowlais Ironworks which by this time had 18 blast furnaces producing 88,400 tons annually and employing 8,800 people. The ironworks had been founded in the mid-18th century and were connected to the Guest family by 1767 when they were being managed by John Guest (1722-1785).
Bertie Guest was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He married, in 1868, Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill (1847-1927), daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, and was thus an uncle-by-marriage of Sir Winston Churchill. During his life he held office as High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1862 and was the mayor of Poole from 1896-1897. He was elevated to the peerage in 1880 as Baron Wimborne, of Canford Magna in the County of Dorset, on Disraeli's initiative. He stood unsuccessfully for election several times, contesting Glamorganshire at the 1874 general election, Poole at a by-election May 1874, and Bristol at a by-election in 1878 and at the 1880 general election.
He died on 22 February 1914 at Canford Manor in Dorset and was succeeded by his son, Ivor Churchill Guest, 2nd Baron Wimborne, 1st Baron Ashby St Ledgers, who was later created Viscount Wimborne.