A pair of Victorian silver wine coolers, Hunt & Roskell, late Storr & Mortimer, London, 1849

the cast rocky triangular bases each with four tritons, the bowls formed as overlapping water lily pads embellished with buds and blooms, the figures Paul Storr, London, circa 1838, each figure engraved on the right arm: 'Published as the Act directs by Storr & Mortimer 156 New Bond Street London Octr. 17 1838' and each right hand engraved: 'No. 130,' the bases stamped: 'HUNT & ROSKELL LATE STORR, MORTIMER & HUNT 4158'

Sotheby's, New York, 27 April 1992, lot 256;
Private Collection

A few small spits in to the castings around the edges of the bases and to one of the tritons' tail fins. One of the small lily buds is missing around the top rim. Three nuts for the screws which attach the tritons to the bases are missing on each, and one has been replaced with a metal nut. Lacking liners, good marks on triton's tails and on the main lily pad bodies. Nice patina and contrast between burnished and frosted areas. These are the only version of this model that Sotheby's has found to be recorded and overall the condition is good.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The bowls of these coolers are of the same lily pad design as those of a pair of wine coolers made at Hunt & Roskell in 1848 for presentation to Edward, 1st Earl of Ellenborough (1790-1871). Instead of tritons, their bases supported figures illustrative of life in India in commemoration of the Earl’s tenure as Governor-General there between 1842 and 1844. The coolers were part of a service which Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were shown at Hunt & Roskell in February 1848, for which they ‘were graciously pleased to express their high admiration.’ (The Morning Chronicle, London, 16 February 1848, p. 6d)

Although Hunt & Roskell employed the services of several artists at this time, including Frank Howard (1805-1866) and Alfred Brown, both of whom began their association with the firm in the mid 1840s, they worked under the superintendence of the sculptor Edward Hodges Baily (1788-1867). It is he to whom the design of these and the Ellenborough coolers has been attributed. The concept was not new, however; a book of miscellaneous prints of designs for vases inscribed ‘No. 202 Storr & Mortimer 13 New Bond Street,’ which must have been known to Baily, includes an engraving after Jacques-François Saly (1717-1776) in which a shell-like vase is supported by tritons. In 1841 Mortimer & Hunt , Hunt & Roskell’s predecessors, produced a very similar caviar pail for the Russian Prince Worontsov-Dashkov (Sotheby’s, London, 3 July 1969, lot 249;  Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Joan B. Lappe-Bowman Bequest). These naturalistic forms, so brilliantly adapted for silver at Hunt & Roskell during the 1840s, probably found their most extreme expression in the shell and coral pattern tea and coffee set, London, 1849, which they showed at the Great Exhibition of 1851 (John Culme, Nineteenth-Century Silver, London, 1977, pp. 158 and 159)

E.H. Baily began working under John Flaxman for Rundell, Bridge & Rundell while still a student and when Flaxman died in 1826 he became Rundell’s chief designer and modeller. In this post he inevitably worked most closely with Paul Storr, who until February 1819 was in charge of the firm’s silver manufactory in Dean Street, Soho. Storr subsequently set up his own factory in addition to going into partnership two years later with John Mortimer to form the retail business of Storr & Mortimer, goldsmiths and jewellers, in Bond Street. Baily joined the new firm and continued to work with Storr and his successors until 1857.