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Lot Essay
These impressive ormolu ice pails were part of a set of six supplied by Benjamin Vulliamy (1747-1811) in 1811 to Thomas, 1st Viscount Anson (1767-1818), for his principal seat, Shugborough, Staffordshire. They epitomize Vulliamy’s technical brilliance and commercial eye for designing coveted objects de luxe in the latest fashions to the British aristocracy.
A late 17th century mansion, Shugborough was first significantly enlarged and remodeled in the 1740s but it was utterly transformed by Lord Anson as he realized his passion for the neoclassical aesthetic. He engaged the architect Samuel Wyatt to redesign the house which was soon filled with ancient sculpture, paintings, books and objects. Anson’s commission of the ice pails coincides with an expected visit by the Prince of Wales, which precipitated the redecoration of Shugborough’s dining-room into an Athenian banqueting saloon.
The ice pails are designed in the French ‘antique’ taste promoted by the Prince of Wales and would have almost certainly been designed by Vulliamy himself. A skilled draftsman, Vulliamy created the designs in their entirety to show to prospective clients and would then supply detailed sketches to his network of craftsmen to execute. The entry for the ice pails in Vulliamy’s ledger no. 34 (preserved at the Public Record Office at Kew) reflects this aesthetic as it states:
For making six very Magnificent Ice pails to correspond with the silver [illegible] Stand, The necks of the Ice Pails are ornamented with chased water Leaves and the bodies with a rich border of Vine Leaves and grapes and three highly chased Masks of Silenus taken from the Antique, the bodies of the pails are supported with three Eagles with their wings extended highly chased sitting on blockings placed on circular Base. The whole executed in the very best manner from original designs and Models amended and altered according to Lord Anson's directions and very strongly Gilt in chased burnished Gold at 500 gs per agreement
Lord Anson’s son, the 2nd Viscount, was created 1st Earl of Lichfield in 1831 but his extravagant lifestyle and a weakness for gambling led to his financial ruin. The contents of Shugborough were put up for auction in 1842 and many of the furnishings were sold. However, the ice pails are noticeably missing from two Shugborough inventories of December 1841 and 12 February 1842 (D1798/H.M. Anson/44) before they mysteriously reappeared in a 1918 inventory of Shugborough. This gap could indicate they had been sent to another house or had perhaps been sold in a separate financial retrenchment and reclaimed by the 2nd Earl (d. 1892) in his endeavor to return the contents to the mansion. They were certainly back at the house by 1918 when they appear in the inventory (see Literature above).
The set remained at Shugborough until four of them, which may include the present pair, were sold by The 4th Earl of Lichfield, removed from Shugborough, at Christie's, London, 27 November 1941, lot 124 (as ‘Empire ice pails…probably by Thomiere [sic]’) to ‘Staal’ for a substantial £231. A Christie’s valuation in 1958 indicates that all six had left the collection based on their appearance on a list of items extracted from the 1918 inventory ‘which are found to have been sold prior to December 1958 or which have been donated or stolen’. Further pairs with the Anson arms but including the wheatsheaf element were sold anonymously at Sotheby’s, London, 23 November 1979, lot 26, and from the collection of Jay Altmayer, Palmetto Hall; Christie's, New York, 19 January 2017, lot 59, subsequently with Ronald Phillips, London.
A late 17th century mansion, Shugborough was first significantly enlarged and remodeled in the 1740s but it was utterly transformed by Lord Anson as he realized his passion for the neoclassical aesthetic. He engaged the architect Samuel Wyatt to redesign the house which was soon filled with ancient sculpture, paintings, books and objects. Anson’s commission of the ice pails coincides with an expected visit by the Prince of Wales, which precipitated the redecoration of Shugborough’s dining-room into an Athenian banqueting saloon.
The ice pails are designed in the French ‘antique’ taste promoted by the Prince of Wales and would have almost certainly been designed by Vulliamy himself. A skilled draftsman, Vulliamy created the designs in their entirety to show to prospective clients and would then supply detailed sketches to his network of craftsmen to execute. The entry for the ice pails in Vulliamy’s ledger no. 34 (preserved at the Public Record Office at Kew) reflects this aesthetic as it states:
For making six very Magnificent Ice pails to correspond with the silver [illegible] Stand, The necks of the Ice Pails are ornamented with chased water Leaves and the bodies with a rich border of Vine Leaves and grapes and three highly chased Masks of Silenus taken from the Antique, the bodies of the pails are supported with three Eagles with their wings extended highly chased sitting on blockings placed on circular Base. The whole executed in the very best manner from original designs and Models amended and altered according to Lord Anson's directions and very strongly Gilt in chased burnished Gold at 500 gs per agreement
Lord Anson’s son, the 2nd Viscount, was created 1st Earl of Lichfield in 1831 but his extravagant lifestyle and a weakness for gambling led to his financial ruin. The contents of Shugborough were put up for auction in 1842 and many of the furnishings were sold. However, the ice pails are noticeably missing from two Shugborough inventories of December 1841 and 12 February 1842 (D1798/H.M. Anson/44) before they mysteriously reappeared in a 1918 inventory of Shugborough. This gap could indicate they had been sent to another house or had perhaps been sold in a separate financial retrenchment and reclaimed by the 2nd Earl (d. 1892) in his endeavor to return the contents to the mansion. They were certainly back at the house by 1918 when they appear in the inventory (see Literature above).
The set remained at Shugborough until four of them, which may include the present pair, were sold by The 4th Earl of Lichfield, removed from Shugborough, at Christie's, London, 27 November 1941, lot 124 (as ‘Empire ice pails…probably by Thomiere [sic]’) to ‘Staal’ for a substantial £231. A Christie’s valuation in 1958 indicates that all six had left the collection based on their appearance on a list of items extracted from the 1918 inventory ‘which are found to have been sold prior to December 1958 or which have been donated or stolen’. Further pairs with the Anson arms but including the wheatsheaf element were sold anonymously at Sotheby’s, London, 23 November 1979, lot 26, and from the collection of Jay Altmayer, Palmetto Hall; Christie's, New York, 19 January 2017, lot 59, subsequently with Ronald Phillips, London.