An ormolu and bluejohn perfume burner circa 1771, by Matthew Boulton

the urn-shaped vase with a bold guilloche band below a foliate pierced lid headed by an acorn finial and joined by foliate swan's neck handles, with fluted stem supported on a white marble plinth with oval paterae, foliate swags and circular base

Matthew Boulton and his partner, John Fothergill, founded their metalwork factory in Soho near Birmingham, in the 1760s. The firm produced fine quality silver, Sheffield plate and ormolu ornaments and received commissions from King George III and Empress Catherine the Great of Russia amongst other notables.  They frequently used Bluejohn in their ornaments. Vases accounted for the majority of the firm`s ormolu production, which also included inkstands, icepails, tripods, girandoles and obelisks.

The design for this perfume burner conforms very closely to a drawing in the Boulton and Fothergill Pattern Book 1, p. 171 (see illustration, where it is shown with a white marble body and base and with some variations to the mounts).

A perfume burner of a similar form was supplied in 1771 to Charles Dunbar and a pair was supplied to the Earl of Bradford, probably circa 1773-4 for Weston Park, Shropshire, for  £15 15s. 0d., illustrated in Nicholas Goodison, Ormolu: The Work of Matthew Boulton, London, 1974, pl.134 (see illustation), another pair similar is in the Harewood House Collection shown in Nicholas Goodison, Matthew Boulton: Ormolu, London, 2002, p.303, pl.269. and a single example, possibly supplied to the Duchess of Manchester, illustrated in the celebrated collection of Colonel Mulliner, The Decorative Arts in England 1660-1780, Batsford, 1923. 

For further comparison see a pair of perfume burners sold Christie`s London, 6 July 1995, lot 27.