Prohibition in America | 100 Years
Prohibition in America | 100 Years
A PAIR OF GEORGE III WINE COOLERS | DIGBY SCOTT & BENJAMIN SMITH, LONDON |1806
This lot has been withdrawn
Lot Details
Description
A PAIR OF GEORGE III WINE COOLERS
1806
each of vase form on a pedestal foot chased with a band of leaves, the shoulder with scrolling paterae and grapevine below an egg-and-dart rim, applied on both sides with a cast drapery mantle bearing a coat-of-arms, the handles with caduceus and Mercury-masks, the detachable gadrooned rim with oak leaf and acorn wreath decoration with removable liner, marked on foot, collar and liner, one stamped RUNDELL BRIDGE ET RUNDELL AURIFICES REGIS ET PRINCIPIS WALLIAE LONDINI FECERUNT
Digby Scott & Benjamin Smith, London
Silver
height 11 in.
255 oz
Richard Fountayne Wilson of Melton Park, Yorkshire (1783-1847), then by descent to Captain Frederick Montagu
Sold Christie's, London, July 3, 1946, lot 61 (part)
Sold Christie’s, New York, April 20, 2001, lot 277
The arms are those of Richard Fountayne-Wilson of Melton Park, Yorkshire (1783-1847), who was described in the Illustrated London News in 1847 as "probably the richest commoner in the Empire." He had “extensive estates in Yorkshire” and acquired land in other counties through inheritance. Fountayne-Wilson was educated at Eton and Trinity College, and held a variety of offices, including the High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1807, Colonel of the First West Yorkshire Regiment of Militia, and Member of Parliament from 1826-30. Born Richard Wilson, he changed his name in 1803 to John Fountayne-Wilson by Royal Licence in order to inherit the Papplewick estate from his grandfather, Frederick Montagu. (see Burke, J., "Wilson, Richard Fountayne, Esq. at Melton," in The Patrician, 1847, 4, pp. 298.)
These wine coolers were once part of a dinner service of exceptional quality sold by Wilson's descendant, Captain Frederick Montagu, at Christie's in 1946. The service included four wine coolers, a pair of soup tureens and matching sauce tureens. The soup tureens were formerly in the Fowler Collection, in Los Angeles.