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A GEORGE III ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY OVAL WINE-COOLER AFTER A DESIGN BY ROBERT ADAM, ATTRIBUTED TO SEFFERIN NELSON, CIRCA 1772-4 The rim with ormolu entrelac border, the body with carved ribbon-tied trailing husk garlands centred by a tablet with flower medallion draped with ribbon-tied swags above and guttae below, the lower frieze carved with stylised anthemion, lion-mask and ring handles and, rectangular block feet, original lead liner, anti-friction castors 19 ? in. (49 cm.) high; 35 in. (89 cm.) wide; 23 ? in. (59 cm.) deep
This superbly carved mahogany wine-cooler is after a design by Robert Adam (1728-92), one of the most important architect-designers working in the Neo-classical idiom in the mid to late 18th century. It was probably executed by the Golden Square carver and gilder Sefferin Nelson (1739-97), renowned for his work under Adam’s direction and in particular the wine-cooler supplied en suite with a sideboard table, a pair of pedestals and urns to William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (1705-93) between 1772 and 1773 for the Hall at Kenwood House, London.
THE DESIGN
From 1754-59 Robert Adam embarked on a ‘Grand Tour’ to France, Italy and Dalmatia with his younger brother, James, where the pair studied classical architectural ruins and antiquities. The sarcophagus-form of this wine-cooler is undoubtedly inspired from these travels since antique sarcophagi of similar form and decoration were illustrated by Robert Adam in 1755-56 while in Rome (1).
The drawings from the office of the Adam brothers are held in the John Soane Museum, and include several versions of this model, which date from 1772 until 1786; these predominantly specify the patrons for whom they were intended although they are not comprehensive. Adam frequently produced the same popular design for different clients but modified each in the carving or painted decoration so that it appeared unique. Although the exact design for this wine-cooler does not feature in the Adam drawings, there is a preliminary drawing for the Kenwood wine-cooler which was later included in The Works of Architecture of Robert and James Adam (2). The published design was altered when executed in mahogany by the carver Sefferin Nelson; the satyr-masks in the drawing were substituted by lion-masks and the rectangular feet were replaced with round feet in the finished wine-cooler (3).
Other versions of this model in the Adam drawings include (in date order):
* A design for a wine-cooler to be executed in mahogany with ormolu mounts, circa 1772, for Osterley House (4); the design has a medallion, strigil fluting, swags, similar lion masks and virtually identical feet to the wine-cooler offered here.
* Another in mahogany with ormolu mounts, circa 1773, supplied to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn for the Eating Room at 20 St. James’s Square (5). Although no design for the Williams-Wynn wine-cooler can be found in the drawings, it is closely related to a design for a tureen which also bears the spread eagle from the Williams-Wynn coat-of-arms. The wine-cooler was sold Christie’s, London, 16 November 1989, lot 96 (£50,000), now in the National Museum of Wales.
* A further design for a wine-cooler, to be executed in mahogany with ormolu mounts, supplied in 1778 to Sir Abraham Hume for Wormleybury in Hertfordshire (6); the design ornamented with a medallion, strigil fluting, and bands of guilloche and Vitruvian scroll and has the same block feet but the handles are ram-masks rather than lion-masks.
* Another design but intended to be painted in the Etruscan style with figurative panels depicting ‘merpeople’, supplied to the Duke of Cumberland for Cumberland House, 86 Pall Mall, on 28 October 1780 (7); this wine-cooler sold from Cumberland House by Christie's in 1793, and again Christie's, London, 27 June 1985, lot 182 (£37,800 incl. premium); now in the Gerstenfeld collection (8).