The Emperor's Plate - A Magnificent Victorian Parcel-Gilt Silver Racing Trophy in the form of a two-handled vase on plinth

Lot 518. The massive two-handled Rococo revival vase-shaped cup resting on shaped square plinth on four bold scroll feet with foliage between, each applied above with the Russian Imperial coat-of-arms, two sides inset with cast plaques of the palaces of Peterhof and Gatchina, the others with Latin and prize inscriptions each on matted ground, the detachable cup resting on four scroll feet with cast panels of floral trelliswork and applied flowers and foliage above, the body repoussé and chased with similar ornament and inset with two cast, chased and applied scenes illustrating events in the life of the Emperor Peter the Great, the swirling fluted neck with scroll and rocaille shaped rim, the bifurcated double scroll handles further cast and chased with trelliswork and foliage, marked on plinth, underside of plaques, Imperial arms, nuts, cup and detachable flowers on its base, stamped underneath "HUNT AND ROSKELL LATE STORR AND MORTIMER No. 2795" - 39 3/8 in.(99.5 cm.) high - 636 oz. (19,776 gr.). Estimate: £400,000-600,000

The Latin inscription reads: 'Ludorum Ascotiensium Memor Quibus Ipse Interfuisset Reginae Victoriae Hospes Mens Jun MDCCCXLIV Solenne Certaminis Equestris Praemium Instituit Nicolaus Totius Russiae Imperator' which translates as:
'Nicholas Emperor of all the Russias, established a prize for an equestrian contest, remembering Ascot races, at which he himself had been present as a guest of Queen Victoria in June 1844.'

The English inscription reads: WON BY THE HERO 1847

Provenance : The Emperor's Plate, Ascot, 1847, paid for by the Emperor Nicholas I of Russia (1796-1855) and won by Mr John Day's "The Hero"
Anonymous sale; Christie's Geneva, 12 May 1983, lot 51

Literature : The Times, 29 May and 4 June 1847
The Illustrated London News, 5 June 1847, pp. 361-2,

Notes : The scenes on the vase and its plinth are all connected with the life of the Russian Emperor, Peter the Great (1682-1725 ). Peterhof was founded by him in 1714, when work began on Monplaisr following his own designs. Placed close to the shoreline of the Gulf of Finland it effectively became his Summer Palace. Subsequent rulers have added to it extensively. Gatchina, although better known for its neo-classical rebuilding by Catherine the Great's favourite, Count Gregory Orloff, was originally an early 18th century mansion given by Peter the Great to his sister, Natalya Alekseevna. The battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 ended in a decisive defeat by Peter the Great's forces of the Swedish forces under Charles XII, who after defeating the Polish King Augustus II, had invaded Ukraine. The scene of the Peter the Great rescuing shipwrecked soldiers is based on an incident that is thought to have happened at Lakhta on the Gulf of Finland in November 1724 when he waded out in freezing water to come to their rescue.

THE EMPEROR'S PLATE, 1845-1853

In 1844 the Emperor Nicholas I of Russia was invited by Queen Victoria to attend the Ascot Races and this he did in company with the Queen's consort, Prince Albert, the King of Saxony, the Duke of Wellington and Count Orloff among others. According to the Illustrated London News of the day he paid great attention to the races and, indeed, appears to have enjoyed them so much that he subsequently offered to pay 500 sovereigns for a piece of plate to be awarded as the Ascot Gold cup. This he did from 1845 up to and including 1853 and it was renamed the Emperor's Plate in his honour. Following the outbreak of the Crimean war in March 1854, "the principle [sic] prize", as the Illustrated London News succinctly put it, was "called the Ascot Cup and not the Emperor's Vase".

The series of prizes paid for by the Emperor are astonishing and must rank as some of the most spectacular and imaginative race prizes ever commissioned. They were all massive, some weighing close to a 1,000 ounces each and many between three and four feet high. A brief description of them gives some idea of just how much their form varied:
1845: A centrepiece based on Falconet's well known sculpture of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, the base flanked by Russian equestrian troops. Designed by E. H. Bailey and supplied by Hunt and Roskell.

1846: A thirteen-light candelabrum with St George slaying the dragon. Designed by E. H. Bailey and supplied by Hunt and Roskell.
Illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, The Glory and the Goldsmith, Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, Christie's London, 1989, pp. 222-223.
Christie's New York, 11 April 2003, lot 206

1847: A two-handled rococo vase on plinth with scenes from the life of Peter the Great, the present lot. Designed by E. H. Bailey and supplied by Hunt and Roskell
Christie's Geneva, 12 May 1983 lot 51

1848: A circular shield centred with Peter the Great and chased with scenes of his life. Designed by Alfred Brown "with E. H. Baily contributing his invaluable suggestions" (Illustrated London News, June 1848), supplied by Hunt and Roskell.

1849: A centrepiece of the death of Hippolytus. Designed by E. Cotterrill and supplied by R. & S. Garrard and Co.

1850: A ewer cast and chased with scenes from the Labours of Hercules . Designed by E. Cotterrill and supplied by R. & S. Garrard and Co.
Exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851. An illustration of the cup in the 1851 catalogue is reproduced in J. Culme, Nineteenth Century Silver, London, 1977, p. 158

1851: A wine-cistern surmounted by figures in a sleigh being attacked by wolves. Designed by E. Cotterrill and supplied by R. & S. Garrard and Co.
A Descendent of the 2nd Earl of Strafford; Christie's London, 30 November 2006, lot 614

1852: A seven-light candelabrum, the theme taken from Sir Walter Scott's 'Thomas the Rhymer'.
Designed by E. Cotterrill and supplied by R. & S. Garrard and Co.

1853: A two-handled vase with cover on plinth with scenes derived from the history of the horse.
Designed by A. Vechte and supplied by Hunt and Roskell

EDWARD HODGES BAILY (1788-1867)

According to the Illustrated London news (op. cit.):

"THE EMPEROR'S VASE has, this year, been manufactured by Messrs. Hunt and Roskill (sic), under the direction of Mr. Bayly (sic), the Royal Academician, from a design said to be suggested by the Earl of Granville, Master of the Buckhounds."

E. H . Baily joined the leading London sculptor and designer, John Flaxman from his home town of Bristol in 1807. He appears to have worked mainly as a modeller and carver of Flaxman's designs and left him in 1815 to work as a designer himself and a modeller for Rundells. He stayed with Rundells until 1833 and subsequently worked for Storr and Mortimer and for its successor firms, Mortimer and Hunt (1839-1843) and Hunt and Roskell (1843-1897), (C. Oman, 'A Problem of Artistic Responsbility: The Firm of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell', Apollo, January, 1966, p. 180).

Although known in the silver world as an important 19th century designer it is Edward Hodges Baily's work as a sculptor for which he is best remembered. Indeed, his greatest work is still surely the best known sculpture in England today, the figure of Nelson on the column in Trafalgar Square. Among a large number of important surviving works are half the sculptures on Marble Arch, some of the exterior work of Buckingham Palace, the figure of the Duke of York in Waterloo Place and various monuments in St. Pauls and Westminster Abbey.

Just as in the case of the 1851 Emperor's Plate (Christie's London, 13 November, 2006, lot 614), for which the designer Edmund Cotterill was almost certainly supplied, perhaps by the Russian ambassador, with a print source for the elaborate group surmounting this cistern, it seems likely that Baily would have worked from prints of the scenes in the life of Peter the Great and those of the palaces of Peterhof and Gatchina.

THE 1847 PRIZE AND THE RACE

The Illustrated London News (op.cit.) illustrates the Emperor's Vase, a scene of the Vase on display on the Steward's stand and the Royal cortege, as well as a portrait of Grand Duke Constantine Nicholaevitch, the second son of the Emperor Nicholas I, who attended the Ascot races of 1847 with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

In addition, it states that the 1847 Emperor's Vase:

"is a magnificent Vase, in the gorgeous style of Louis XIV.; of burnished silver, the handles and festoons, in relief, being frosted, and richly gilt. On two faces of the cup are alti relievi, elaborately modelled, and rendered in silver. One represents a passage in the battle of Pultowa [sic] in which Charles XII of Sweden was defeated by Peter the Great, and the establishment of the empire and power of Russia secured. The companion relievo represents Peter the Great rescuing shipwrecked soldiers from the Neva. Both subjects are well chosen in compliment to the Imperial donor of the prize. The Vase is about three feet and a half in height, including the base which is also of silver; and on it are represented in basso relieve, the Palace of Gatchino (sic) and that of Peterhoff. The inscription is similar to that of last year stating by whom it is presented; and a blank space is left, to be inscribed with the name of the fortunate winner.'

The Times (op.cit.) carries an almost identical report

THE WINNER

According, yet again, to the Illustrated London News (op. cit.) on the opening day of the races, "John Day, jun., the trainer, whose run of good fortune has latterly been so remarkable, had been struck with delirium the preceding evening, and was said to be wholly divest of his mind. He had sent, when his mind began to give way, for one of his masters Sir Robert Pigot, the owner of Coyningham, and told him instantly to take precautions as a body of ruffians were about to break into the stables. Sir Robert immediatly sent to Colonel Rowan, and policemen were forthwith dispatched from town, but it soon transpired that these fears were the hallucinations of an insanity, which, most probably, they had brought about".

The Hero belonged to John Day Sr. and was trained by John Day Jr., his son. The horse was ridden by the trainers younger brother Alfred who received orders from his father, the owner of the horse, presumably prior to his illness, "to draw it very fine and the boy did as the father commanded. The Hero will be found a dangerous nag the season-verb.sap (ie. a word to the wise)." The result was that he won the Queen's Vase given by Her Majesty on Tuesday, June 1st. Two days later The Hero was victorious a second time beating six other horses in the race for the Emperor's Vase with Wolf-Dog, Jericho and Mendicant in second, third and fourth place respectively. As was usual in the races The Hero tried to make all the running and on this occasion won easily by a length. He won numerous other races, including a second Emperor's Plate in 1848, a Goodwood Cup and a Ebor Handicap. He was not a great success as a stallion.

Christie's. Important Silver. 29 November 2007, 2:00 pm. 8 King Street, St. James's, London