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拍品专文
INSPIRED BY WEDGWOOD
These beautiful ormolu-mounted white marble candle vases almost precisely follow a design by Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) and John Fothergill (1730- c.1782) published in their Pattern Book No. 1 (p. 171, fig. t) and reproduced in Sir Nicholas Goodison's Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton (New York, 1974, p. 383, fig. 161).
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) was a close friend of Boulton's and his patterns are thought to be the source for the medallions used on the plinths of these candle vases. Boulton's medallions of classical figures are almost identical to the cameos and intaglios made by Wedgwood and his partner James Tassie. Moulds for these examples can be found in the Wedgwood Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum. All derive from the same classical source of Renaissance gems. Many gem collections in Europe were widely published at this time and Boulton's library contained A.F. Gori's Museum Florentinum (1731-1766), in which gems from the Medici collection were engraved.
The subjects of the medallions on this pair of candle-vases are:
On one vase:
1. Achilles Victorious, depicted as a clothed hero.
2. Neptune, the god of the sea being pulled in his chariot.
3. Aesculapius, Greek god of medicine, depicted with a snake wrapped around his staff (see mould: V&A WE.906-2014)
4. Filial Piety, depicted with a stork at her feet, although in Wedgwood’s time, he confused her for ‘Diana’ (likely mistaking the stork for a peacock).
On the other vase:
5. Venus Victorious, showing Venus leaning against a column with a pike, and giving a helmet to Cupid (see mould: V&A WE.928-2014).
6. Pomona, a Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards, and depicted carrying a basket on her head overloaded with fruit, tumbling to the ground (see intaglio: V&A 5148-1901).
7. Hygeia (or Peace), with an olive branch in her right hand, as seen in Tassie's reproduction of Valerio Belli's gem, and holding a snake in her left hand over an altar (missing from Belli's original gem). This was produced by Wedgwood both as an intaglio and as a cameo (see mould: V&A WE.779-2014).
8. Heroic Figure, described by Wedgwood as 'A Conquering Hero, Probably Perseus'.
Boulton probably asked patrons to choose from a limited repertoire of motifs, and therefore each vase or pair of vases is adorned with their own combination. It is very rare for a pair of vases, such as this lot, to have no repeating medallions. In total, Boulton used nine medallion subjects on recorded vases of this type, the ninth medallion not used here is one that depicts a 'Sacrifice Group'.
RELATED EXAMPLES
A pair of the same model was sold from the Prescott Collection, Christie's, New York, 31 January 1981, lot 76, and again from the Collection of Ann & Gordon Getty: Wheatland; Christies, New York, 19 October 2023, lot 195. A further pair of this model, but with the addition of candle-arms, at Weston Park, Staffordshire was probably acquired by Sir Henry Bridgeman who inherited the house in 1764 (N. Goodison, 2002, p. 314, pl. 301).
These beautiful ormolu-mounted white marble candle vases almost precisely follow a design by Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) and John Fothergill (1730- c.1782) published in their Pattern Book No. 1 (p. 171, fig. t) and reproduced in Sir Nicholas Goodison's Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton (New York, 1974, p. 383, fig. 161).
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) was a close friend of Boulton's and his patterns are thought to be the source for the medallions used on the plinths of these candle vases. Boulton's medallions of classical figures are almost identical to the cameos and intaglios made by Wedgwood and his partner James Tassie. Moulds for these examples can be found in the Wedgwood Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum. All derive from the same classical source of Renaissance gems. Many gem collections in Europe were widely published at this time and Boulton's library contained A.F. Gori's Museum Florentinum (1731-1766), in which gems from the Medici collection were engraved.
The subjects of the medallions on this pair of candle-vases are:
On one vase:
1. Achilles Victorious, depicted as a clothed hero.
2. Neptune, the god of the sea being pulled in his chariot.
3. Aesculapius, Greek god of medicine, depicted with a snake wrapped around his staff (see mould: V&A WE.906-2014)
4. Filial Piety, depicted with a stork at her feet, although in Wedgwood’s time, he confused her for ‘Diana’ (likely mistaking the stork for a peacock).
On the other vase:
5. Venus Victorious, showing Venus leaning against a column with a pike, and giving a helmet to Cupid (see mould: V&A WE.928-2014).
6. Pomona, a Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards, and depicted carrying a basket on her head overloaded with fruit, tumbling to the ground (see intaglio: V&A 5148-1901).
7. Hygeia (or Peace), with an olive branch in her right hand, as seen in Tassie's reproduction of Valerio Belli's gem, and holding a snake in her left hand over an altar (missing from Belli's original gem). This was produced by Wedgwood both as an intaglio and as a cameo (see mould: V&A WE.779-2014).
8. Heroic Figure, described by Wedgwood as 'A Conquering Hero, Probably Perseus'.
Boulton probably asked patrons to choose from a limited repertoire of motifs, and therefore each vase or pair of vases is adorned with their own combination. It is very rare for a pair of vases, such as this lot, to have no repeating medallions. In total, Boulton used nine medallion subjects on recorded vases of this type, the ninth medallion not used here is one that depicts a 'Sacrifice Group'.
RELATED EXAMPLES
A pair of the same model was sold from the Prescott Collection, Christie's, New York, 31 January 1981, lot 76, and again from the Collection of Ann & Gordon Getty: Wheatland; Christies, New York, 19 October 2023, lot 195. A further pair of this model, but with the addition of candle-arms, at Weston Park, Staffordshire was probably acquired by Sir Henry Bridgeman who inherited the house in 1764 (N. Goodison, 2002, p. 314, pl. 301).