Vase
Category
Ceramics
Date
1750 (circa) - 1820 (circa)
Materials
Ceramic
Measurements
640 mm (Height); 230 mm (Diameter)
Order this imageCollection
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire
NT 532859
Summary
Vase, porcelain, round, of baluster shape with a trumpet-shaped mouth and a pair of handles along the neck in the form of archaic stylised dragons, made in Jingdezhen, China, c. 1750–1820. The decoration of birds on magnolia branches and peony trees alongside rockwork is raised on the surface and painted in cobalt blue and copper red and white under a celadon-coloured glaze.
Full description
George Hammond Lucy (1789-1845) bought this vase from the Fonthill Abbey sale in 1823 for £14.4s, lot 1208, as written on the base of the vase (i). The highly-anticipated Fonthill Abbey auction saw the sale of the collection of William Thomas Beckford (1760-1844). Beckford amassed a vast art collection, using wealth derived from his position as an absentee enslaver and plantation landlord. He had inherited 15 plantations in Jamaica and over 1,000 people were enslaved in his name in 1770 (ii). Beckford sold his collection and the abbey in 1822, following financial trouble caused by plantation mismanagement, ongoing lawsuits and the decline in sugar profitability (iii). An auction planned for 1822 did not proceed as the estate was purchased privately (iv). The new owner arranged a separate auction of the collection in 1823, attended by Lucy. This vase does not feature in the original 1822 catalogue written by Beckford. It is likely that it was added by the auctioneer Harry Phillips (fl.1796 – d.1840) and is not associated with Beckford. (i) A Catalogue of the Costly and Interesting Effects of Fonthill Abbey, (London, 1823), p.196; Auction catalogue, 1823, NT 3045887. (ii) 'William Thomas Beckford', Legacies of British Slave-Ownership database, UCL, accessed 30/05/2024. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/22232 (iii) See Boyd Alexander, (trans. and ed.), Life at Fonthill 1807-1822 With Interludes in Paris and London. From the Correspondence of William Beckford, (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1957); England’s Wealthiest Son: A Study of William Beckford, (London: Centaur Press Lt., 1962); Amy Frost, ‘The Beckford Era’ in Caroline Dakers (ed.), Fonthill Recovered: A Cultural History, (London: UCL Press, 2018), pp. 59-93 (iv) Caroline Dakers ‘The break-up of the Fonthill estate’ in Caroline Dakers (ed.), Fonthill Recovered: A Cultural History, (London: UCL Press, 2018), pp. 97-98
Marks and inscriptions
Base: '1208' written in black ink, referring to the Fonthill lot number