A GEORGE IV SILVER PRESENTATION TWO-HANDLED VASE WINE COOLER, EMES & BARNARD, LONDON, 1828 |

of Warwick Vase form, on fluted square pedestal base, the otherwise plain compressed campana-shaped body engraved with a Latin inscription on one side and on the other with the recipient's coat-of-arms and the seal of the Free Grammar School, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk above cast acanthus foliage, applied at the everted rim with grape-laden vine tendrils springing from bifurcated handles, detachable fluted rim and liner 

The inscription reads: ‘VIRO DOCTISSIMO BENJAMIN HEATH MALKIN L.L.D. SCHOLAE REGIAE BURIENSIS NUPERRIME MAGISTRO. HOC VAS DEDERUNT PRISTINI DISCHIPLINAE SUAE ALUMNI SUMMAE IN EUM OBSERVANTIAE MONIMENTUM ET AMORIS PIGNUS A.D. MDCCCXXVIII.’ This vase was presented to Benjamin Malkin Heath (1769-1842), a noted scholar and antiquary, upon his retirement as headmaster of the Grammar School at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, a position he had held since 1809. He is chiefly remembered now for his friendship with and promotion of the work of William Blake (1757-1827), the English poet, painter and illustrator. Among his many writings Malik is credited with having penned the first and fullest account of Blake’s early life.