A ROCK CRYSTAL

A ROCK CRYSTAL, SILVER AND ENAMEL MODEL OF BACCHUS

IN RENAISSANCE STYLE, GERMAN OR AUSTRIAN, LATE 19TH CENTURY

depicting a youthful Bacchus astride a barrel, with a grapevine in his hair, holding a ruby coloured goblet in his right hand, the barrel with a tap and decorated with green enamel, unmarked, mounted on a lapis lazuli base

10.7cm high

PROVENANCE

Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942)

Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009)

The Trustees of Exbury House

CATALOGUE NOTE

This present lot bears an interesting resemblance to the wonderful late 16th century silver-gilt and green turban shell Bacchus collected by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild (1839-1898) and later bequeathed to the British Museum as part of the Waddesdon Bequest. It is interesting to speculate that Alfred coveted his cousin's Bacchus and acquired a similar one for his own collection. For a similar model of Bacchus but riding a sea monster, see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1975.1.1494.