Wine Cooler (one of four)

Beginning in the late seventeenth century, English silversmiths produced vessels for chilling bottled wine in ice or ice water before serving. Their function, form, and decoration were derived from French customs and designs. These smaller coolers hold individual bottles and have a removable liner and a separate collar. The four matching coolers in this set (1915.7.03-06) bear the arms and crest of the Ashburnham family with the earl’s coronet and the motto LE ROY ET L'ESTAT (The King and the State) and were probably made for John, second Earl of Ashburnham or his son, George.

Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.

Earls of Ashburnham. Ashburnham sale, March 25, 1914, Christie’s, Lot 110. Frick, 1915.

Source: Enamels, Rugs and Silver in The Frick Collection. Volume VIII. New York: The Frick Collection, 1977.