BY MATTHEW BOULTON, CIRCA 1770

These candle-vases follow the sketch in Boulton's factory pattern book numbered '859' (N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, 2002, p. 304, pl. 275). The finials are reversible and are a popular Boulton feature that appear on other candle-vases, including an almost identical pair with the 'Blue Beef' vein of blue john, (sold by Mrs A. E. Gell, Sotheby's London, 11 April 1975, lot 41 and exhibited Hotspur, 'Golden Jubilee Exhibition', 1974) (ibid., p. 298). A pair of these vases based on sketch '859' was in stock at Richard Bentley's workshop in Soho in 1782, listed as '1 pair vases 859 blue john bodies ready to gild £2 3s 0d' (ibid., p. 184). Richard Bentley was noted as being of the 'management' of the ormolu department in 1770 and by 1782 was clearly the chief craftsman at Soho (ibid., p. 150).