BY MATTHEW BOULTON, CIRCA 1772

The ‘ice pail’ cistern was among the first products discussed following the opening of Matthew Boulton and John Fothergill’s gilt-bronze manufactory in Soho, Birmingham, in 1768, and the model entered production in 1772. Conceived in the French manner, the bacchic vase form, with foliage-wrapped bowls and satyr-headed handles, derives from celebrated marble antiquities, notably the Medici and Borghese wine-krater vases. The pattern, featuring husks suspended in the antique flutes, appears in the firm’s Pattern Book I (p. 177), intended for execution in ormolu or silver (N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, p. 258, pl. 211). This pair is the only recorded example to adhere precisely to Boulton’s design, including pendant husks and fluted collar. Two sizes of the model appear to have been produced.

Three drawings of ice pails were submitted to the Duke of Ancaster in 1772, resulting in an order of five examples, both ‘large’ and ‘smaller’. Goat-head handles were added at the Duchess’s request to prevent servants from spoiling the gilding. Other known patrons included James Belliss (a pair), the Earl of Ashburnham (four of the Ancaster goat model), the Earl of Coventry (a pair), the Countess of Derby, and the Earl Beauchamp. Two examples, ‘lined with silver’ for a pint or quart, were included in the 1778 Christie and Ansell sale but were not sold and likely correspond to the two listed in the 1782 inventory (ibid., pp. 257-258).

The design embodies the period’s fashion for adapting or inventing ‘new modes of luxury and magnificence’ inspired by French models. Comparable French examples include a set of four Louis XV ormolu ice-pails, later mounted on early 19th-century English bases, sold from Houghton Hall by the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 68. Other Boulton ice-pails may have been catalogued as Louis XVI, including a set of four sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 19 April 1969, lot 70.