Case 11 2010-11 : The great silver wine cistern of Thomas Wentworth

Expert Adviser’s Statement

Reviewing Committee Secretary’s note: Please note that the illustrations referred to have not been reproduced on the MLA website

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Brief Description of item

The great oval silver wine cistern of Thomas Wentworth, 3 rd Baron Raby (1672- 1739), Ambassador Extraordinary to Berlin, 1706-1711, Philip Rollos senior, London, 1705-06. Engraved with contemporary royal arms and cipher of Queen Anne (the engraving attributed to John Rollos) with applied lobes and strapwork, demi lion and drop ring handles and lip border of shells, fully hallmarked on the underside, with maker’s mark (Grimwade no. 2383) and Britannia mark on the handles, the foot reinforced on the underside with riveted brass straps. Height 83 cm.; 32 inches; width 129.5 cm; 51 inches; depth 83 cm.; 32 inches. Weight 908000 gr; 2597 oz 15 dwt

2. Context

Thomas Wentworth, 3 rd Baron Raby (created Earl of Strafford, 1711) ambassador extraordinary to the King of Prussia at Berlin, 1706-1711, and thence by descent through his eldest daughter Lady Anne Conolly, to her granddaughter Lady Amelia Anne, Marchioness of Londonderry, Viscountess Castlereagh (d.1829); believed to have passed during her lifetime to her father John Hobart, 2 nd Earl of Buckinghamshire (d.1793) of Blickling Hall, Norfolk; and then in turn to his eldest daughter Caroline Harbord, Baroness Suffield; and to her great nephew William Kerr, 8th Marquis of Lothian and thence by descent.

Key literature :

Treasures: Aristocratic Heirlooms , Sotheby’s, London 6 July 2010, VIII, pp.70-83 Helen Jacobsen, ‘Ambassadorial plate of the later Stuart period and the collection of the Earl of Strafford’, Journal of the History of Collections , vol. 19, no.1 (2007)

James Lomax, ‘Royalty and silver: The role of the Jewel House in the eighteenth century’, The Silver Society Journal , vol.11 (Autumn 1999),pp.133-139.

John Harris, Bodt and Stainborough, The Architectural Review , July 1961,pp.34-35 N.M.Penzer, ‘The Great Wine Coolers’ Parts I & II, Apollo , August- September, 1957

James Salzmann, ‘Deliv’d for the use of his Lordship’s table’: British Ambassadorial Silver from William and Mary to George IV: MA Thesis, Sotheby’s Institute, London, 2007.

The Strafford Papers, British Library Additional MS 22226

3. Waverley criteria

The cistern fulfils criteria one, two and three, being of outstanding importance for British heritage reflecting the status of an early 18 th century British ambassador to Berlin and The Hague as Queen Anne’s representative; being of the highest aesthetic quality both in design, proportion and in the execution of the cast figurative elements and contemporary engraving and of importance to the study of the manufacture and production of large-scale silver, and its symbolic purpose as reflecting official and personal status and its practical function in chilling and serving wine. The re-emergence of this cistern after an interlude of three hundred years and the remarkable survival of correspondence between Lord and Lady Strafford in the British Library about their allocation of ambassadorial plate, coupled with the evidence of the official Jewel House accounts in the National Archives, make this the best documented example as well as the largest surviving piece of ambassadorial plate in this country.

DETAILED CASE

1. Detailed description of item(s) if more than in Executive summary, and any comments.

Description Britannia silver. The oval wine cistern is supported on a concave-convex base beaten from a single sheet of silver but with a separate foot. The convex section of the base is decorated with applied cast lambrequins which are soldered and riveted to the base. The upper bowl section is raised from one huge sheet of silver and the lower concave section is also decorated with larger cast lambrequin lobes soldered and riveted in place. The bowl is reinforced at the waist with an applied reeded moulding. The outcurving cast rim is decorated with applied shells which are also riveted and soldered to the rim. The handles are hinged to scrolling brackets in the form of lions’ heads and are cast in several sections. The front of the cistern is engraved with the shield containing the Royal Arms of Queen Anne and supporters, the lion and unicorn and the intials AR. The cistern is an astonishing 129 cm. wide and its height is equal to its depth at 83 cm. It weighs 2597 oz 15 dwts. There is a complete set of marks on the underside – lion’s head, date letter for 1705- 6, Britannia (alloy-standard) mark and the maker’s mark of Philip Rollos senior (Grimwade no. 2383). The maker’s mark and Britannia mark are also struck on both the lions’ head handles.

The Makers Philip Rollos, senior was one of the finest immigrant goldsmiths working in London in the late 17 th and early 18 th centuries. He is first recorded in London when he took up denization in 1691 and he entered his maker’s mark (RO) at Goldsmiths Hall in 1697 giving his address as ‘over against Bull Inn Court, Strand’, a thoroughfare running north from the Strand to Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. Rollos became member of Livery of the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1698 and held the appointment of subordinate goldsmith to the Jewel Office under William III and Queen Anne. He appears to have handed over the business to his sons between 1703 and 1705 and retired to Wandsworth where he was living at the time of his death in 1711.

Recent research has established that Philip Rollos senior had close links with Berlin, and that he was probably of German Lutheran origin rather than a member of the London Huguenot community as has hitherto been assumed but never proven. His will, written in April 1711, six months before his death, mentions his three sons, Philip, John and Jacob and names his wife Mary as his executrix. His daughter is not named but was married to Esdras Marcus Lightenstone, Minister of the Gospel at Aurich, East Freizland, who had died before the will was written. Philip Rollos senior leaves his property in the Domstras, Berlin, to his grandson Gustav Philip Lightenstone, indicating that the Rollos family probably came to London from Berlin. John Culme has demonstrated in his ground-breaking entry for Sotheby’s recent catalogue that there were engravers and jewellers with the family name Rollos in Berlin in the 17 th century.

Philip Rollos junior was apprenticed to the London goldsmith Dallington Ayres in 1692, but turned over to his father. He achieved freedom of the Goldsmiths’ Company in July 1705. It is likely that he assisted his father in the production of this cistern as he took over the family business when his father retired to Wandsworth at about this time. Like his father, Philip Rollos junior also held the role of Subordinate Goldsmith to the Crown.

His brother, John Rollos, described himself as an engraver when he bound his son Christian apprentice to Philip Rollos junior in December 1721. John Rollos specialized in engraving seals and stamps and was paid in October 1707 by the Stamp Office, where he maintained his connections up to his death in 1743. His name appears to have been misunderstood as John Roos in the records of the Royal Mint from 1704-1720; as he is recorded as seal engraver for the Crown in a portrait sketch by Marcellus Laroon dated 1718 inscribed ‘Mr.Rolus his Majestys Engraver of ye broad seal ‘(now in the British Museum, but formerly in the collection of Horace Walpole). His fellow engraver and antiquary, George Vertue, noted that John Rollos left a legacy of some £200 to his family.

Number of comparable items already in the UK The term cistern has hitherto been used to describe both the larger wine coolers used for chilling bottles of wine as well as the smaller containers, referred to in early 18 th century accounts as ‘washers’ , used to catch the drips from rinsing glasses in the water from the ‘wine’ fountain positioned above. Although there are over sixteen smaller wine cisterns (‘washers’) still in British Collections, there are only eight other recorded surviving larger silver cisterns in this country which were intended for cooling wine bottles in the Dining Room.

There were three generations of production before smaller wine coolers, intended for a single bottle, became more fashionable as they were easier to accommodate. These single bottle coolers were introduced in France in the late 17 th century and the earliest London-made examples date from 1698. The earliest smaller cisterns were made by London goldsmiths some with as yet unidentified maker’s marks and range in date from 1667 to 1680, from the first twenty years of the reign of Charles II. The earliest of the larger cisterns, at Belvoir Castle, was made in 1681 and bears the mark of the London goldsmith Robert Cooper (Appendix no.1). Others by Charles Shelley, 1682, at Welbeck (no.II and Benjamin Bathurst, 1695, for the Earl of Jersey (figure 1, no.III), reflect the standing of their patrons in court circles and in Lord Jersey’s case, his diplomatic status.

The second generation of large wine cisterns dating from 1701-1729 is dominated by those produced by the two generations of the Rollos workshop and by leading Huguenot goldsmiths Peter Archambo, Pierre Harache and David Willaume. Native goldsmiths imitated these designs and recorded smaller examples are marked by Ralph Leake, George Garthorne, William Lukin and Anthony Nelme. Of this second generation, the Raby cistern is the second largest to survive; it is significant that the two largest examples were marked by the Rollos workshop.

The third generation is heralded by the cistern made by Philip Rollos junior for the Earl of Exeter which is the largest in Britain at 3690 ounces but is distinguished by being supported on four scroll feet. This has no date letter but has been dated to circa 1710 on stylistic grounds. Later cisterns on raised feet include that made by Paul de Lamerie, 1726 originally for Nicholas Leake, 4 th Earl of Scarsdale weighing 2,646 ounces and that made by Charles Kandler for Henry Jernegan, 1734, both in the Hermitage, St Petersburg; another made for the Earl of Huntingdon by Paul de Lamerie’s apprentice Abraham Portal in 1762 which is now in the Dallas Museum of Art, USA; another by Thomas Heming 1770 supplied to Sir John Cust, Speaker of the House of Commons, 1761-1770, as his second issue of perquisite plate, now at Belton House, Lincolnshire and another by James and Elizabeth Bland for Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, 1794 in the Gilbert Collection currently on loan to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

2. Detailed explanation of the outstanding significance of the item.

The Raby cistern and the status and purpose of silver wine cisterns Silver wine cisterns used for chilling wine became an established social convention for very wealthy Europeans from the 16 th century. A painting of Charles I and Henrietta Maria dining in public in 1635 illustrated their use at the British court; by the 1670s they dominated dining rooms in Berlin, Dresden, Hanover, London and Paris. It is significant that the earliest recorded London-made example ( Appendix no.1) was a royal gift from Charles II in 1667 to Francis Newport, Earl of Bradford. A Royal Warrant for a cistern of 1000 ounces was issued in October 1672 for Louise de Kerouaille, Charles II’s mistress- significantly that monarch often entertained foreign ambassadors in her luxuriously furnished apartments at Whitehall Palace; this cistern was subsequently melted down.

Sets of silver fountains, cisterns and coolers became part of the ceremonial surrounding the serving of wine in grand dining rooms in the late 17 th century. Wine glasses were not set on the table, but presented on a salver to dinner guests; water was drawn from the fountain to rinse wine glasses, and swilled into a smaller cistern. In the grandest households, the pair might be en suite with an even larger silver cistern intended for use as a wine cooler holding ice-packed bottles of wine to replenish the glass after rinsing. Even the grandest households made do with a copper cistern such as the late 17 th century example displayed at Chatsworth in the reconstructed Dining Room buffet today which retains its original japanned surface to disguise the base metal. This was still being used in the Dining Room at Chatsworth in 1811. George Booth, 2 nd Earl of Warrington, one of the most celebrated patrons of silver in the early 18 th century, inherited two copper ‘sisterns’ in 1694 in which his bottles of wine were cooled until he acquired the larger cistern in 1727-8 listed below.

The only set of matching silver wine fountain, smaller and larger cistern supplied by the same goldsmith to survive was marked by London goldsmith Anthony Nelme for Thomas Parker, 1 st Earl of Macclesfield in 1719-1720 – the set weighed over 2,200 ounces and cost over £1,200. Now on display in the British Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, this set was commissioned by the patron for private use and displayed in the dining room of his residence at Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire.

The largest wine coolers had the capacity to contain over 20 gallons. Their size was intended to catch the eye and emphasize the status of the patron. In addition to being an appropriate mark of royal favour, cisterns were also given as a mark of appreciation to those holding public office. In 1723 The British Journal noted ‘A very fine Silver Cistern, made by Mr Points, is just finish’d, being the usual Present from His Majesty to the Speaker: it weighs 1790 Ounces’. Such substantial pieces made an entirely appropriate status symbol for a foreign ambassador. The surviving examples listed below (nos. I –VIII) which remain in the United Kingdom are with three other exceptions, all associated with private patronage and made for display for dining at home to create a setting worthy of a royal visit.

The earliest reference to a wine cistern being supplied for ambassadorial use occurs in the Jewel House record of the grant of plate made to Sir George Downing, Ambassador to the States General in 1672 which included ‘a silver cistern weighing one thousand one hundred eighty five ounces over & above his Allowance of plate’ but a few months later a Jewel House warrant transferred Downing’s cistern to the Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II. In February 1685/6, the Earl of Castlemaine as James II’s ambassador to the Vatican took delivery of 6,900 ounces of white plate and 1,404 ounces of silver-gilt which included a ‘large Cistonne curiously chased’. Neither the Downing/Monmouth or the Castlemaine cisterns are known to survive. Perquisite plate was not automatically retained by the office holders after they finished their appointment. It required a Privy Council Discharge each time, and if the mission went disastrously wrong, the plate was clawed back by the Jewel Office.

The earliest surviving ambassadorial silver wine cistern retained by the ambassador for his personal use is that made by Benjamin Bathurst for Edward Villiers, first Earl of Jersey (figure 1) for his embassy as envoy-extraordinary to the states general of the United Provinces in 1695. This is now at Osterley Park, Middlesex, the property of the National Trust.

When John Churchill, then Earl of Marlborough was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to the States General in 1701 his official allocation of plate included a fountain weighing 420 ounces, a small cistern weighing 467 ounces made by Pierre Harache and a large silver cistern made by Philip Rollos senior weighing 1944 ounces(figure 2, Appendix no. IV). The cistern alone cost £1020.14s (Figure 2). Originally engraved with the Royal Arms of William III; the heraldic engraving was subsequently replaced by the Duke of Marlborough’s own arms as his ambassadorial silver was customized for display and use at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire and Marlborough House, London in order to reflect his further aggrandisement as a Duke by Queen Anne, as Knight of the Order of the Garter and as a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Leopold after the Battle of Blenheim, 1704. This remains at Althorp, Northamptonshire today but is not currently available for public display elsewhere.

Aesthetic qualities The Raby cistern is the largest example of the three large surviving cisterns for cooling wine bottles which were made for ambassadorial use and one of only two ambassadorial example to retain its original engraving of the Royal Arms. Its proportions are carefully calculated to balance the substantial weight with the elegance of the applied decoration. The cast ornamental features contrast with highly burnished plain areas, which, with the exception of the clearly engraved coat of arms, shimmered in both reflected daylight and candlelight. The cistern would have been displayed in the British Embassy in Berlin with other buffet plate which included a helmet-shaped ewer and basin supplied by the same maker at the same time (figures 3-5), both retaining their original armorial engraving also attributable to John Rollos, and now on display in the British Galleries, Victoria and Albert Museum. As lions feature as a supporter of both the Royal Coat of Arms and those of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, they make a particularly significant decorative feature in the tradition of using heraldic ornament for such status symbols and the chasing of the surface of the lions’ heads and cast detail and finishing of the handles is of exceptional quality.

Evidence of contemporary technology There is evidence to suggest that cisterns on this massive scale were made in a copper mill. In 1734 Jernegan was obliged to send the cistern he had commissioned from Charles Kandler to ‘the Copper Mill the Silversmiths Hamers not having weight sufficient to make any Impression on it’. In her recent history of the Armourers and Braziers Company, Elizabeth Glover illustrates the early 19 th watercolour of the premises of Pontifex, Braziers of 46-48 Shoe Lane, where several large copper cisterns are clearly visible. The manufacture of such massive pieces of plate intended for export, required careful planning if the object was to withstand the stresses of travel and transport in the early 18 th century. This explains the care with which each decorative feature is both soldered and riveted to the base. The eight brass strap reinforcements on the underside of the base are probably a near contemporary repair as a result of repeated transport between London, Berlin, The Hague and the Wentworth family homes in St James’s Square, London and Stainborough, Yorkshire.

Significance of figures associated with the item:client/owner Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford of the second creation (1672-1739) was the second son and surviving heir of Sir William Wentworth of Wakefield, Yorkshire and Isabella, daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, Treasurer of the Household to James, Duke of York. She later served as lady of the bedchamber to James II’s queen, Mary of Modena. Young Thomas was appointed as page of honour to the queen consort in 1687. His early experience of Court was in the best family tradition as his paternal great uncle and namesake Thomas Wentworth, 1 st Earl of Strafford (first creation), was the celebrated supporter of Charles I who was unjustly executed for treason in 1641.

On the accession of William III, Thomas Wentworth switched allegiances and followed his brother into military service, serving as aide-de-camp to the king in August 1692, and groom of the bedchamber from 1695 to 1702. In 1697 he was appointed Colonel of the Royal regiment of Dragoons. He also served under Marlborough in Flanders in 1702 when his horse was shot from under him. After his brother’s death and the death of his cousin, William, Earl of Strafford, in October 1695,Thomas Wentworth succeeded to the peerage as fourth baronet and third Baron Raby. He expected to inherit the extensive Strafford properties at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire, but these passed to another cousin. Embittered and determined to establish his standing, Wentworth bought a property at Stainborough and hired Jean de Bodt (1670-1745) chief architect to Frederick of Brandenburg, to enlarge the existing house from 1709-1715. Bodt’s designs for Stainborough are in the V&A (D.212-1890 and 92 D 46) and include a detailed plan for the silver buffet (figure 6) with a tall symmetrical display in a dedicated niche in the Dining Room intended to accommodate both his private purchases of silver and the ambassadorial plate collected during his diplomatic career. Significantly, in Bodt’s design the lowest tier of the buffet is filled with a large silver cistern.

The house and garden, originally known as Stainborough Hall, was subsequently named Wentworth Castle. Both survive and are Grade I listed; the house belongs to the Wentworth Castle Trust and is now the Northern College for Residential Adult Education and used as a venue for historical conferences (www.wentworthcastle.org.uk). The Trust has embarked on a major campaign to restore the castle, parkland and buildings as part of the economic regeneration of Barnsley with financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The main building is open to the public for 60 days a year. A programme of restoring the park buildings continues; the Rotunda is the latest to be completed and reopened in early September 2010. The Trust would certainly be interested in showing the wine cistern as part of a special exhibition devoted to Thomas Wentworth’s ambassadorial missions to Berlin and The Hague.

In 1698 Raby accompanied the duke of Portland, William III’s ambassador, to Paris and in 1701 was sent to Berlin to congratulate the elector Frederick III of Brandenburg on becoming Frederick I of Prussia. In 1703 Raby was sent back to Berlin as envoy and in 1706 as ambassador-extraordinary to Brandenburg-Prussia where he served until April 1711. Raby was tall, handsome, sturdily-built, punctilious and well suited to the Prussian court. According to one contemporary, he approached his ambassadorial mission with military fervour. He became jealous of Marlborough’s authority and the emphasis placed on his status as ambassador reflects his personal insecurity.

In March 1711 Raby was appointed ambassador extraordinary to the states general of the United Provinces and served in that role until 1714; he also served as ambassador to the Utrecht peace congress in 1713. In September 1711, Raby married Ann, only daughter and heir of Sir Henry Johnson of Bradenham, Buckinghamshire, a wealthy shipbuilder with estates in Suffolk and Bedfordshire. In that same year Raby was sworn of the privy council and created Viscount Wentworth of Wentworth-Woodhouse and Stainborough and earl of Strafford. He served as first Lord of the Admiralty from 1713-1714 and was created a knight of the Garter in October 1714. Strafford was recalled from the Hague on charges of impeachment in December 1714 but was never prosecuted. He subsequently turned his energies to the Jacobite cause, and was appointed Commander-in-chief of the Jacobite forces north of the Humber and given the title duke of Strafford by the Pretender. After his retirement from public life Strafford devoted himself to his estates in Yorkshire. He died at Wentworth Castle on 15 November 1739.

Helen Jacobsen’s recent account of Lord and Lady Strafford’s interest in the commissioning of ambassadorial plate for Lord Strafford’s second ambassadorial mission to the States General throws fascinating light on the extent to which this ambitious couple used their official allocation of silver to enhance their own status at their fashionable London and Yorkshire houses where they entertained prestigious guests including foreign ambassadors to London. Lady Strafford’s observation of recent stylistic developments in silver commissioned for the Royal Palaces and other courtier houses informed their patronage and provides an important resource for further study.

Significance of object For more than two hundred years, departing British ambassadors left home equipped with several thousand ounces of silver and silver-gilt that they might entertain abroad in a style worthy of their sovereign. The fashioning of this silver was usually left to the diplomat’s personal taste, and from the accession of William and Mary to the Prince Regent, the recipient could expect to keep his allocation after his mission was accomplished. Ambassadors thus had an incentive to choose well. Furthermore, if posted to Europe, they were exposed to the latest continental design and were therefore well-placed to dictate the decoration and form of the plate commissioned for them by the Royal Jewel House.

The resulting grand buffet displays were inspired by examples in Versailles, Berlin and Dresden. A temporary buffet set up at Versailles in 1668 for a fete in honour of Louise XIV’s mistress Madame de Montespan set a precedent. The Berlin buffet created between 1695 and 1698 by leading Augsburg goldsmiths for Elector Frederick II of Brandenburg was displayed in the Knights’ Chamber of the Berlin Stadtschloss. Raby would have seen this on his 1701 mission to Berlin (figure 7) and this must have inspired his insistence on the largest possible wine cistern to emphasize his ambassadorial status at the Berlin court.

Significance of materials/process/usage The closest parallel to the Raby cistern in Britain is the smaller cistern customized for George Booth, 2 nd Earl of Warrington by the same goldsmith five years earlier (see number 11 below, figures 8-9). Recent research has indicated that this piece may have been acquired by Lord Warrington second-hand at the time that he commissioned a wine fountain and larger cistern from Peter Archambo, 1727-8. An even closer parallel made by Philip Rollos senior in 1699 for Evelyn Pierrepont, 5 th Earl and later 1 st Duke of Kingston. is now in the Hermitage, St Petersburg as it was taken to Russia by Elizabeth Chudleigh, Countess of Bristol as Duchess of Kingston after her trial for bigamy in 1767. It weighs over 3,600 ounces. Unlike the Raby cistern, the Kingston cistern has a shield with armorial supporters on the front, but the coat of arms are actually engraved on the underside. Both cisterns have handles decorated with heraldic animal figures, although those on the smaller Warrington cistern may have been later additions supplied by Peter Archambo.

The later cistern, also bearing the maker’s mark of Philip Rollos and date letter for 1710-11 is of similar weight and was made for Brownlow, 8 th Earl of Exeter. It is engraved with the arms of Cecil with Chambers in pretence for his wife Hannah Sophia, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Chambers of London and Derby. It also weighs 3,690 ounces. Philip Rollos’s workshop evidently monopolized the production of these huge objects in silver during the period 1699-1711.

National importance: Ambassadorial silver In conclusion, the Raby Cistern represents an exciting new discovery which remains in its original condition over three hundred years after it was made. Its achievement of the current auction record for London-made silver reflects its importance as evidence for the material culture of the role of the British ambassador abroad in the early 18 th century. Its aesthetic quality is evident in the judicious balance of proportion and ornament and its sheer size demonstrates the mastery achieved by two successive generations of the Rollos family of craftsmen. The documentary evidence and recent new research into the origins of this talented family emphasize its outstanding importance in satisfaction of all three Waverley criteria.

Summary of related items, smaller wine cisterns and larger wine coolers in public/private ownership in the UK

Smaller wine cisterns (washers used in rinsing wine glasses) 1. Wine cistern, maker’s mark CG or CGL (not yet identified), London, 1667 engraved with the later coat of arms of the Earl of Rosebery. Originally given by Charles II to Francis Newport, Earl of Bradford (1617-1708); Lord Mountrath from 1762; Henry Dawson-Damer, from 1829; Christie’s 24 July 1891 (54); Dalmeny House, Lothian Length 46 in. height 19 ½ in. weight not recorded

2. Wine cistern, maker’s mark, IC, London,1670 with the coat of arms of Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield and his third wife Lady Elizabeth Dormer, eldest daughter and co-heir of Charles, 2 nd Earl of Canarvon with matching fountain. Dimensions and weight not recorded. Private Collection.

3. Wine cistern, maker’s mark AM, London, 1675. Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire

4. Wine cistern, maker’s mark for Thomas Jenkins, London, 1677-8. Recorded at Stowe, Buckinghamshire in 1848; Sir Thomas Beecham; Christie’s 5 March 1919 (146) 26 July 1926 (91); 20 May 1936 (96); John Kennedy; Sotheby’s 9 May 1957 (147); S.J.Phillips. Length 22 1/2 in.; height 8 5/8” weight 232 oz.18 dwt. Victoria and Albert Museum Museum number M. 37-1957

5. Wine cistern, maker’s mark for Robert Cooper, London, 1680, 314 ounces supplied to John Hervey, 1 st Earl of Bristol in 1697. Width: 27 in.; weight 314 oz. National Trust, Ickworth, Suffolk

6. Wine cistern, one of a pair, with matching fountain, maker’s mark of Ralph Leake, London, 1698 with the coat of arms of Viscount Scarsdale.( the matching fountain is in the Getty Museum, California; the other wine cooler and fountain are in the London collection of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths) Length 22 ½ in.; original scratch weight 383=18 Victoria and Albert Museum Museum number M.30-1965

7. Wine cistern, circa 1690 formerly in the collection of W.Lowndes, published in 1905, present location unknown

8. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of George Garthorne, London, 1694. Length 30 1/2 in.; height 13 in; weight 616 ounces The Bank of England

9. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Pierre Harache, London, 1697 Presented to the Barber Surgeons’ Company by Queen Anne Length 22 in. The Barber Surgeon’s Company, London

10. Wine cistern, pair, maker’s mark of David Willaume, London, 1700-1 supplied for Ralph, Earl (later Duke) of Montagu with matching wine fountains, engraved with the coat of arms and supporters for Montagu and Monthermer. Length Weight 164 ounces. The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, Boughton House, Northamptonshire

11. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Philip Rollos, 1701-2 Supplied to George Booth, Earl of Warrington. Length 25 ½ in.’ 64.8 cm.; scratch weight 282 ounces. National Trust, Dunham Massey

12. Wine cistern ‘one small Cesterne’, maker’s mark of Pierre Harache, London, 1700-1, supplied to John Churchill,1 st Earl of Marlborough for his office as Ambassador Extraordinary to the States General at The Hague, subsequently engraved with the arms of John Churchill as Duke of Marlborough; weight 1,944 ounces. 467 oz Earl Spencer, Althorp, Northamptonshire

13. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of William Lukin, London, 1706-7 engraved with the coat of arms of the Earl of Hopetoun, with matching wine fountain. Private Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum

14. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Philip Rollos junior, London, 1712-13 from the collection of the Earl of Home, Wilding Collection, British Museum.

15. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Thomas Farren, London, 1728-9 supplied to Lord Exeter with matching fountain, Burghley House, Stamford

16. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Franics Nelme, London, 1731 The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry

Large wine cisterns (‘coolers’) I. Wine cistern, maker’s mark for Robert Cooper, London, 1681 , Length 45 1/4 in.; width 39 ½ in.; weight 1979 ounces, supplied for 10 th Earl of Rutland The Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle

II. Wine cistern, maker’s mark for Charles Shelley, London, 1682, Length 42 in.; width 32 in.; height 13 in; weight 1,160 ounces. Welbeck Abbey, Nottinghamshire

III. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Benjamin Bathhurst, London, 1695 (figure 1) engraved with the Royal Arms, Length 39 in.; breadth 32 ½ in; height 15 in.; weight 1,680 ounces Osterley Park, Middlesex (The National Trust)

IV. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Philip Rollos senior, 1701, now engraved with the arms of John Churchill, 1 st Duke of Marlborough, but originally supplied for his embassy to the United Provinces (figure 2). Althorp, Northamptonshire. Earl Spencer.

V. Wine cistern,maker’s mark of Philip Rollos, 1710 acquired by John, 7 th Earl of Exeter and engraved at a later date with the arms of Cecil with Chambers in pretence for Brownlow, 8 th Earl of Exeter and his wife Hannah Sophia, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Chambers of London and Derby. Length 63 in.; width 33 ½ in. height 34 ½ in.; weight 3,690 ounces Burghley House, Stamford

VI. Wine cistern, silver-gilt, maker’s mark of David Tanqueray, 1718-19 supplied to Richard Boyle, 3 rd Earl of Burlington engraved with the arms of Boyle. 43.9 cm.; 81.3 cm; 69.9 cm.; original scratched weight 836 ounces Bequeathed to Dorothy, Countess of Burlington; by descent to William, 5 th Duke of Devonshire; The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth

VII. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Anthony Nelme, London, 1720-21 supplied to Thomas Parker, Baron and later 1 st Earl of Macclesfield, with matching fountain and cooler. Height 76.8 cm.; width 109 cm.; depth 72.5 cm.; weight 1552 ounces Victoria and Albert Museum

VIII. Wine cistern, maker’s mark of Peter Archambo, London, 1729-30 supplied to George Booth, 2 nd Earl of Warrington and engraved with his coat of arms (figures 8- 9) Length 39 in.; 99 cm.;scratch weight 11260z 10 dwt National Trust at Dunham Massey

The Expert Adviser, Dr. Tessa Murdoch, will be accompanied at the hearing by Angus Patterson, Curator, Metalwork Collections, Victoria and Albert Museum.