BOWL

This beautifully mounted bowl, made from a stone often referred to as ‘oriental agate’, exhibits a neo-classical vocabulary which is tinged with the final small flourishes of rococo decoration. Although seemingly not from his hand, the mounts do bear some similarities to the work of Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) the manufacturer and entrepreneur. Known today for his importance in the creation and dissemination of the modern steam engine, in the 1760s and 1770s Boulton also produced beautifully executed ormolu-mounted objects in the neo-classical style. These often incorporated Derbyshire fluorspar, better known as ‘blue john’. Among his works, the shallow masks seen on a pair of perfume burners in the Royal Collection bear a striking similarity to the masks on the present bowl (illustrated in Goodison, op. cit., fig. 94). It seems likely that the author of the present lot worked in the same artistic milieu and was familiar with the decorative vocabulary of Boulton’s work.