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A Pair of Important Royal Wine-Coolers
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Description
- Silver
- Height: 9 1/4 in (23 cm)
- Length over handles: 11 1/4 in (29 cm)
Silver
London, 1714
Maker's mark of Lewis Mettayer
These wine coolers are among the earliest of this form in Britain and are of exceptional quality. Lewis Mettayer and his master, fellow Huguenot David Willaume, made the earliest known pair for the Duke of Devonshire in 1698. The single bottle wine cooler was an introduction from France after technological developments enabled glass blowers to produce cylindrical wine bottles that could be stored on their side, thus preventing the cork from drying out. Vintage wine was born.
The coolers bear the arms of Sir Paul Methuen (1672–1757), the son of John Methuen (1650–1706), English envoy to Portugal and negotiator of the Methuen Treaty. In 1714 on the accession of George I, Methuen was appointed ambassador to Spain and Morocco, and for this mission he was granted the customary allowance of silver from the Jewel Office in order to entertain in the appropriate state while en poste.
London, 1714
Maker's mark of Lewis Mettayer
These wine coolers are among the earliest of this form in Britain and are of exceptional quality. Lewis Mettayer and his master, fellow Huguenot David Willaume, made the earliest known pair for the Duke of Devonshire in 1698. The single bottle wine cooler was an introduction from France after technological developments enabled glass blowers to produce cylindrical wine bottles that could be stored on their side, thus preventing the cork from drying out. Vintage wine was born.
The coolers bear the arms of Sir Paul Methuen (1672–1757), the son of John Methuen (1650–1706), English envoy to Portugal and negotiator of the Methuen Treaty. In 1714 on the accession of George I, Methuen was appointed ambassador to Spain and Morocco, and for this mission he was granted the customary allowance of silver from the Jewel Office in order to entertain in the appropriate state while en poste.