An impressive silver-mounted wood wine cask, makers mark: I.N or N.I in Cyrillic, St. Petersburg, 1869

mounted at each end with the Royal Polish Arms and initials MA entwined, the barrel partitioned into five sections, sealed at the top with silver sculptural groups of mythical figures, the taps below realistically formed as twigs and applied with finely chased vine leaves, the keg supported on a stand formed from silver twigs and similarly decorated with gilded vine leaves and fruits, 84 standard

This beautiful wine-cask, adorned with the figures of the troop of Bacchus, the god of Wine, uninhibited and inebriated as is their custom, fills its viewer with a similar sense of exuberance. Satyrs and Maenads are wreathed in vines and are depicted transported by the god and his bounty. They raise a din in honour of the deity and bear aloft his precious grapes, celebrating both Bacchus and his gift with their raucous revels.

Manufactured in St. Petersburg, its base entwined in delicate silver vines, the cask is in itself testimony to the very real intertwining that existed between Russia and Poland at this point in history. Napoleon's intercessions had ensured Poland a place on the map, but it was a constant struggle to maintain it. As a result Poland was forced to look to its more powerful neighbours. It is not unexpected, therefore, that we should find works of art manufactured in St. Petersburg bearing the Royal Polish Arms.

The Polish Royal family was closely bound to the Russian court in St Petersburg from the start of the 18^th Century when Russia became a constant presence in Poland. Indeed, it was initially due to Catherine the Great's intercession on behalf of her lover, Count Stanislaw Poniatowski, that in 1764 he ascended to the throne. King Stanislas Augustus, as he was styled, was the last King of Poland and eventually compelled to abdicate, dying an exile in St Petersburg in 1798. Following his demise, Polish nobles began to look to Emperor Alexander I in the hope of reunification. Despite having a liberal constitution Poland was ruled autocratically by Tsar Alexander I. His successor as King of Poland, Tsar Nicholas I, was dethroned in 1831 only for the Poles to be decisively defeated once again in 1832. There were increasing signs of liberalisation under Alexander II, but an uprising in 1863-4, only a few years before the date of the casket's manufacture, led to the total incorporation of Poland into the Russian Empire. This did not prevent Poland's industries from flourishing, despite extreme attempts at Russification.