Lot Essay
ADMIRAL FAYERMAN
Admiral Francis Fayerman was a prominent British naval officer. He was born in 1745 and entered the Royal Navy at a young age. He was appointed a lieutenant in 1777, becoming a commander in 1781 and appointed captain of H.M.S. Carysfort in 1793. He served as captain on four further ships, taking part in the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 in command of H.M.S. Beaulieu. As commanding office of H.M.S. Athenienne he acted as escort to a convoy of East India Company ships, for which he was presented with the current lot, in recognition of his service. Appointed Admiral of the Blue in 1810, Admiral of the White in 1812 and finally Admiral of the Red in 1814, he spent his final years in Bath, dying there in his house on Queens Parade in December 1819.
VASE DESIGN
The design for this vase or wine cooler is closely related to the Lloyds Patriotic Fund vases awarded for distinguished service during the Napoleonic Wars. The overall design for the vases was the work of the neo-classical sculptor John Flaxman (1755-1826), however, design elements can be attributed to John Shaw and Edward Edwards who respectively won the competition for the design of a vase and a medal. Flaxman was asked by the Royal Goldsmith Rundell, Bridge and Rundell in March of 1804 to plan a design for the final vase, conforming to the Shaw-Edwards drawings. For further information about the Patriotic Fund vases and an illustration of an example, in the collection of the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino California, see R. M. Berkowitz, 'The Patriotic Fund Vases Regency Awards in the Navy', Apollo Magazine, February 1981, p. 104 and 105.
Trafalgar Vase, presented by the Patriotic Fund at Lloyd's of London. © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images