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Lot Essay
THE MODEL
The present magnificent 'Roman' vases were particularly suited to rooms decorated in the fashionable George III 'antique' style promoted by architects and designers such as James and Robert Adam. They likely formed part of a decorative table or chimney-piece garniture. In a letter from Boulton to his wife detailing a visit to Buckingham House in 1770, the designer noted the fashion for adorning chimneypieces with ormolu-mounted vases, recalling: 'The Queen sent for me into her bed chamber, shewed me the chyney [sic] piece and asked my opinion how many vases it would take to furnish it, for she says all that china shall be taken away' (N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London 2002, p. 165).
Vases accounted for the majority of the firm's ormolu production and the present pair, with slender scrolled arms and reversible socket-concealing lids serving as candle holders, is derived from a sketch in from the firm's Pattern Book I numbered 863 (Pattern Book 1, p. 170; illustrated ibid., fig. 290). Significantly, and perhaps surprisingly, the vases offered here appear to be the only known pair of this precise pattern. While the design suggests that the model was possibly conceived with additional ornamentation such as swags, the choice to keep the mounts spare serves to showcase the exceptionally striking figure of the stone. The finely cast and chased ormolu finials recall the lids in a pattern of winged-figure vases (ibid., p. 361, fig. 370), while the nozzles feature on the 'Apollo and Diana' candlestick pattern (p. 186, fig. 132.1-2). Close variants on the present model, including related examples with scrolled handles, appear in sketches on page 170 and 171 of the Pattern Book (illustrated ibid., pp. 295, 307-308, figs. 257, 284, 287).
BLUE JOHN
Featuring richly striated blue john, the present vases reflect the taste for precious mounted minerals and hardstones among collectors in the second half of the 18th century. A rare fluorspar deposit, blue john is mined on a single hill in Castleton, Derbyshire. The mineral is comprised of a mix of deep purple hues with lighter translucent layers ranging from honey yellow to light brown, and can be polished into a gleaming hardstone-like surface. Robert Adam, too, incorporated blue john into furniture and lighting, while a pair of Louis XVI vases and a ewer in the Wallace Collection suggest that Parisian marchands-merciers also used the material (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. III, pp.1390-3, F345-7). It remains unknown if marchands-merciers obtained blue john directly from Castleton or if they were supplied through Boulton, who had an essential monopoly on the mineral in England, as well as a flourishing trade in France.
THE MULLINER COLLECTION
This pair of candle-vases, along with several other lots from the Irene Aitken collection, was formerly in the renowned collection of Colonel H. H. Mulliner (d. 1924) of Clifton Court, Rugby and The Albany, London. Mulliner was owner of the coachbuilders Mulliner Park Ward, creators of some of the greatest Rolls Royce cars. In his later years, he became an investor in Lenygon & Co. and, like his contemporary William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (d.1925) strove to support the case of British Art. Both collectors lent English eighteenth century furniture and decorative arts to The Burlington Fine Arts Club's Exhibition held in 1920. Three years later, Mulliner introduced the catalogue to his collection, The Decorative Arts in England 1660-1780, with the statement that it aimed 'to embrace for the first time in one work representative examples of the various decorative arts produced in England during the late 17th and the 18th Centuries.' The Victoria & Albert Museum acquired some important examples of decorative English work from the sale of Mulliner's collection held by Messrs. Christie's in May 1922. The remainder of his collection was sold Christie's, London, 10 July 1924, although the wine cooler does not appear in that sale.
The present magnificent 'Roman' vases were particularly suited to rooms decorated in the fashionable George III 'antique' style promoted by architects and designers such as James and Robert Adam. They likely formed part of a decorative table or chimney-piece garniture. In a letter from Boulton to his wife detailing a visit to Buckingham House in 1770, the designer noted the fashion for adorning chimneypieces with ormolu-mounted vases, recalling: 'The Queen sent for me into her bed chamber, shewed me the chyney [sic] piece and asked my opinion how many vases it would take to furnish it, for she says all that china shall be taken away' (N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London 2002, p. 165).
Vases accounted for the majority of the firm's ormolu production and the present pair, with slender scrolled arms and reversible socket-concealing lids serving as candle holders, is derived from a sketch in from the firm's Pattern Book I numbered 863 (Pattern Book 1, p. 170; illustrated ibid., fig. 290). Significantly, and perhaps surprisingly, the vases offered here appear to be the only known pair of this precise pattern. While the design suggests that the model was possibly conceived with additional ornamentation such as swags, the choice to keep the mounts spare serves to showcase the exceptionally striking figure of the stone. The finely cast and chased ormolu finials recall the lids in a pattern of winged-figure vases (ibid., p. 361, fig. 370), while the nozzles feature on the 'Apollo and Diana' candlestick pattern (p. 186, fig. 132.1-2). Close variants on the present model, including related examples with scrolled handles, appear in sketches on page 170 and 171 of the Pattern Book (illustrated ibid., pp. 295, 307-308, figs. 257, 284, 287).
BLUE JOHN
Featuring richly striated blue john, the present vases reflect the taste for precious mounted minerals and hardstones among collectors in the second half of the 18th century. A rare fluorspar deposit, blue john is mined on a single hill in Castleton, Derbyshire. The mineral is comprised of a mix of deep purple hues with lighter translucent layers ranging from honey yellow to light brown, and can be polished into a gleaming hardstone-like surface. Robert Adam, too, incorporated blue john into furniture and lighting, while a pair of Louis XVI vases and a ewer in the Wallace Collection suggest that Parisian marchands-merciers also used the material (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. III, pp.1390-3, F345-7). It remains unknown if marchands-merciers obtained blue john directly from Castleton or if they were supplied through Boulton, who had an essential monopoly on the mineral in England, as well as a flourishing trade in France.
THE MULLINER COLLECTION
This pair of candle-vases, along with several other lots from the Irene Aitken collection, was formerly in the renowned collection of Colonel H. H. Mulliner (d. 1924) of Clifton Court, Rugby and The Albany, London. Mulliner was owner of the coachbuilders Mulliner Park Ward, creators of some of the greatest Rolls Royce cars. In his later years, he became an investor in Lenygon & Co. and, like his contemporary William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (d.1925) strove to support the case of British Art. Both collectors lent English eighteenth century furniture and decorative arts to The Burlington Fine Arts Club's Exhibition held in 1920. Three years later, Mulliner introduced the catalogue to his collection, The Decorative Arts in England 1660-1780, with the statement that it aimed 'to embrace for the first time in one work representative examples of the various decorative arts produced in England during the late 17th and the 18th Centuries.' The Victoria & Albert Museum acquired some important examples of decorative English work from the sale of Mulliner's collection held by Messrs. Christie's in May 1922. The remainder of his collection was sold Christie's, London, 10 July 1924, although the wine cooler does not appear in that sale.