A PAIR OF REGENCY ORMOLU WINE COOLERS

These fine ormolu wine coolers epitomise the opulent revivalist style in early 19th century decorative arts that profoundly influenced English and French ormolu and silver-gilt, and, in parallel, they demonstrate the Regency enthusiasm for lavish entertainment. Their Classical wine-krater form and ornament recall the celebrated vases of antiquity, such as the Borghese and Warwick vases, which Henry Moses illustrated in his Collection of Antique Vases, 1814 (plates 37 and 450), and combined with the flower guilloche, after the French manner, they typify the 'Antique' style. They are attributed to the Matthew Boulton Plate Company of Birmingham based on a corresponding silver version by the company, which bears the 1817 date-letter (see Kenneth Crisp Jones, The Silversmiths of Birmingham, Fakenham, 1981, figure 28). A pair of wine coolers from the same service, possibly the present pair, sold 'The Late Mrs Heard de Osborne', Christie's, South Kensington, 5 October 1994, lot 610 (£15,400 inc. premium). Although the Matthew Boulton Plate Company predominently worked in silver and silver plate, they also used 'other metals' (ed. S. Mason, Matthew Boulton: Selling what all the world desires, New Haven and London, 2009, p. 46). Interestingly, the company were also supplying metalware to Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, the Royal Goldsmiths, who furnished George IV with a significant portion of the celebrated Grand Service (ibid.).
The arms are those of Vansittart impaling Eden, for the Rt. Hon. Nicholas Vansittart (1768-1851), who married Catherine Isabella, 2nd daughter of William, 1st Lord Auckland in 1805. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1812-23 and in 1823 was created Baron Bexley.