A PAIR OF GEORGE III ORMOLU-MOUNTED BLUE JOHN CASSOLETTES

The form of the bodies of this pair of blue john candle vases directly corresponds to a sketch labeled ‘859’ in Matthew Boulton’s Pattern Book I, p.171, illustrated here and in N. Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, p. 318 fig. 310.1.  Related examples include an identical pair sold anonymously at Christie’s, London 14 May 2003, lot 104 (£53,750)  a pair with white marble bases sold anonymously at Sotheby’s, New York, 12 October 2007, lot 117 ($52, 000) and pair with white marble bodies now in a private collection (Ibid, P. 304, fig. 276).