Lot 560 | England | BRONZE & COPPER GEORGE III CASSOLETTE

BRONZE & COPPER GEORGE III CASSOLETTE.

England.
Date: Ca. 1770-80.
Maker/Designer: Matthew Boulton (1728-1802) - attributed.
Technique: Gilt bronze, copper. Fluorite, so-called Blue-John, Derbyshire.
Description: On a square base with floral festoons, vase-shaped body. Cloth drapery along the shoulder.
So-called candle vase and lid attachment with candle holder on the opposite side.
Measurement: Height 19.5, with candelabrum 20cm.

Provenance:
Private collection Rhineland.

Literature:
Goodison, Nicholas: Matthew Boulton - Ormolu, London 2002. Compare similar drafts ill. 248, 249.

Matthew Boulton (died 1809) is considered the most important manufacturer of luxury goods in 18th-century England. Together with his business partner John Fothergill, he founded the Soho Manufactory in Birmingham in 1762. At a time when most companies consisted of small workshops and operated within complex subcontracting structures, Boulton and Fothergill fundamentally modernised production processes. In 1765, Boulton visited Paris, where he studied the work of the leading Parisian bronze artists at close quarters. Deeply impressed, he decided to challenge their dominance in the market for gilded bronzes.