George III Brass Bound Mahogany Oval Table Wine Cooler

Fine and rare 18th Century (circa 1790) George III period antique mahogany table wine or bottle cooler. It is of coopered construction, this fine piece is made of mahogany bound together with brass bands, having extremely rare brass Grecian scroll handles. The top, having a useful inset handle, lifts off to allow the section below to be easily emptied and cleaned. That section has copper lined sections to hold the bottles and a lead lined section designed to be filled with ice to chill their contents. Wooden table coolers are much rarer than their silver or porcelain equivalents and far rarer than standalone wine coolers or cellarets. A virtually identical piece, quite possibly the pair to the present example, was sold by Christie's in the Apter-Fredericks stock sale on the 19th of January 2021, making £17,500. Like the Apter-Fredericks piece, another aspect of the present example which makes it so unusual are the curving handles set into the side of the cooler. Usually table coolers have much simpler ring handles. These curving handles are indicative of the neoclassical taste and are seen on some of the Matthew Boulton ormolu perfume burners of the 1770s which may have provided the indirect inspiration for these pieces. See for example. A double bottle cooler is featured in R. Butler and G. Walkling, Wine Antiques, Woodbridge, 1986, pl. 112 and it is notable that the Gillows pattern books in Westminster Archives feature a design for a similar piece, described as an 'ice pail' on the 30th of March 1794. The present piece is certainly of the level of quality associated with the Gillows workshops and so a tentative attribution to that firm can be made.