Return to Elegance: The Star Collection
Return to Elegance: The Star Collection
A PAIR OF LARGE AND HEAVY EARLY VICTORIAN SILVER EWERS, FROM THE COLLECTION OF SOPHIA LOREN, JOHN FIGG, LONDON, 1838-39
Lot Closed
October 20, 02:07 PM GMT
Estimate
80,000 - 120,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A PAIR OF LARGE AND HEAVY EARLY VICTORIAN SILVER EWERS, FROM THE COLLECTION OF SOPHIA LOREN, JOHN FIGG, LONDON, 1838-39
one representing Wine, the other Water, with high relief scenes, grotesque ornament and figures embracing the necks, slightly later engraved with inscription, "Edinburgh Gold Cup, won by Mr. James Hope's "Lady Adelaide," 4 years, Mussellburgh, September 1884"
each marked under spout, maker's mark also on base of one
418 oz 5 dwt
13,012 g
height 21¼ in.
54 cm
Collection of Sophia Loren, sold
Christie's, New York, October 26, 2007, lot 124
John Figg was apprenticed to William Elliott (see lot 27), and became Free of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1833, and entered his first mark in 1834. These upper parts of these ewers are derived from the "Sacred to Venus" (Water) and "Sacred to Bacchus" (Wine) models supplied by John Flaxman Sr. to Wedgwood in 1775 and made extensively in black basalt. The bodies, though, have been enriched with additional figures closer to Italian 16th or 17th century models, showcasing the historicism so prevalent in Victorian design.
"Lady Adelaide" was the daughter of New Holland and Voyageuse; the same year as she won the Edinburgh Gold Cup she also won the Saltburn Handicap, the York Cup, the Caledonian Hunt Cup, and a Queen's Plate. In 1886 she again won the Edinburgh Gold Cup.