A pair of Victorian silver two-handle ‘grape basket’ wine coolers, Jean-Valentin Morel, London, 1851

waisted form with simulated basket-weave decoration, ribbon-tie reeded rims, stylised branch handles, the tops overflowing with fruiting vines, detachable rims and liners, the rims with engraved crest and motto

The crest and motto are those of Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow (1806-1878), originally of Varchow, Mecklenburg and naturalised British by Act of Parliament, 1841.

Henry was born at Sulten, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, the son of Heinrich Bölckow of Varchow, in the region of Western Pomerania. Whilst working in a merchant’s office in Rostock, he met Christian Allhusen, who, in 1827, invited him to move to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to become his business partner in the corn trade. Following his British nationalisation in 1841 he invested the fortune he had amassed from corn into the iron industry with his partner John Vaughan. The rapid success of their business enabled them to expand their operations, acquiring coal mines, limestone quarries, brickworks, gasworks and a machine works. Middlesbrough subsequently became a centre of such importance that, in 1853, the town received a charter of incorporation, with Bolckow becoming its first elected Mayor. When the town was granted parliamentary representation in 1867, Bolckow stood as Liberal candidate, holding the seat until his death in 1878.

John Culme, Nineteenth-Century Silver, Country Life, London, 1977, p. 156.

Clearly hallmarked to bases, rims and liners. One cooler is missing one hanging bunch of grapes. Another has been broken off and re-attached, sits loosely. The other with heavy repair to the latticework body with body feeling quite uneven. Otherwise fine surface scratches throughout.
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An identical silver-gilt pair, with the crest and motto, were part of the C. Ruxton and Audrey B. Love collection and sold Christie's, New York, 20 October 2004, lot 230.

Jean-Valentin Morel was a master goldsmith, initially apprenticed to Adrien-Maximilian Vachette, maker of gold boxes to Louis XVI and Napoleon, but in around 1818 he started working independently. He registered his first mark in August 1827 and went to work with the Fossin brothers in 1834, remaining there until 1840.

From 1842-48 Morel was in partnership with the French architect Henri Duponchel (1794-1868) establishing themselves as Morel et Cie, where they became known for their renaissance revival objets d' art to the designs of Jules Peyre and Constant Sévin. At one point they employed 80 workers and won a gold medal at the Exposition des Produits de l'industrie of 1844 in Paris. However, their partnership ended acrimoniously in a lawsuit that resulted in Morel being prohibited from working in Paris again.

The revolutions of 1848 caused Morel to flee to London, re-establishing in New Burlington Street with financial backing from collector Edmond Joly de Bammeville. Registering his mark in 1849, he continued to produce the highest quality silver and jewellery, culminating with the award of a Council Medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Morel returned to France in 1852 and won the Grand Medaille for goldwork and jewellery at the Paris International Exhibition of 1855. There he showed his famous bloodstone and enamel cup depicting Perseus and Andromeda, commissioned by Henry Thomas Hope.