拍品专文
"The King" wrote Lady Shelley in 1826, "never thinks of anything but building." In 1823 he turned his attentions away from the Pavilion at Brighton and engaged Jeffry Wyatt to turn the cold and gloomy interiors of Windsor into a Gothic palace. Wyatt, a "busy-bustling, vain little man" immediately asked the King if he could change his name to Wyattville so as to avoid confusion with other members of his family, some of whom were mere builders. "Ville or mutton" the King is supposed to have replied cheerfully, "call yourself what you like." Five hundred workman were immediately employed and, on the King's birthday on August 12, 1824, Wyattville suggested that "a treat might be given to the men" in celebration. A dinner in the castle grounds was suggested but Wyattville decided to give each man five shillings to buy good dinners "at the various public houses of Windsor". "I proposed to man the towers for a general Huzza! at precisely one o'clock" he recorded, "but reflecting on the chance of accident, and that the men would be lost behind the battlements, I decided for assembling them either along the south front or on the new Terrace for that purpose." The occasion was a great success - a local journalist thought that "the effect of this assemblage of happy and industrious artisans was most exhilarating."
A related snuff box made from a beam in Windsor castle was sold in these Rooms, April 29, 1986, lot 229. It was inscribed "This box was made from part of a beam in Windsor Castle placed there when the castle was originally built by King Edward III." Another snuff box set with an oak panel and a smaller medal, engraved with the same inscription as the present box, was sold at Christie's, London, May 14, 1992, lot 41. A silver-gilt mounted oak cup of 1827 also made from the old beams at Windsor was sold at Sotheby's New York, April 20, 1983, lot 213.
The commemorative medal was designed by Alfred Joseph Stothard (1723-1864), son of Thomas Stothard, who also designed for Rundell's. The medal is listed in Lawrence Brown, British Historical Medals 1760-1960, no. 1337.
A related snuff box made from a beam in Windsor castle was sold in these Rooms, April 29, 1986, lot 229. It was inscribed "This box was made from part of a beam in Windsor Castle placed there when the castle was originally built by King Edward III." Another snuff box set with an oak panel and a smaller medal, engraved with the same inscription as the present box, was sold at Christie's, London, May 14, 1992, lot 41. A silver-gilt mounted oak cup of 1827 also made from the old beams at Windsor was sold at Sotheby's New York, April 20, 1983, lot 213.
The commemorative medal was designed by Alfred Joseph Stothard (1723-1864), son of Thomas Stothard, who also designed for Rundell's. The medal is listed in Lawrence Brown, British Historical Medals 1760-1960, no. 1337.