A PAIR OF GEORGE III ORMOLU AND BLUE-JOHN CASSOLETTES

The 'goat's head vase' is derived from a sketch illustrated in Boulton and Fothergill's pattern books. The model was one of the most popular of the smaller vases and first appeared in 1769 when a Mrs Yeats ordered "1 pair of goat's head vauses light blue cheny or enamelled". In the same year, Sir William Guise ordered a pair with blue-john bodies. Other buyers of goat's head vases include Lord Digby in 1774 and Lord Scarsdale in 1772, who paid 4.4s a pair. Several models appear with 'antique' medallions such as these would have had, depicting the head of Alexander the Great and suspended from the rim of the each vase (see N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, pp. 331-333, figs. 332-333). A pair of this model was sold Christie's, London, 9 June 2005, lot 217.