A George III Silver Wine-Jug, by Thomas Heming, London, 1765, pear-shaped and on spiral-fluted conforming foot, the lower body with waved decoration below a band of chased fruiting grapevines, the upper-body spiral-fluted, with leaf-capped quilted handle and beak-form spout, engraved with initials, 28cm high, 36oz 8dwt, 1,133gr Provenance: Possibly Charles William Grenfell, M.P. (1823-1861) and by descent to his grandson Captain Edward Arthur Aylmer, D.S.C. (1892-1974), and by descent. While the early history of this jug is not entirely clear there is a strong possibility that it was acquired by Charles William Grenfell, M.P. (1823-1861), either as a gift or a purchase in the 19th century. Grenfell was the son of Charles Grenfell and his wife Lady Georgiana Frances, daughter of William Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton. His brother Henry was, for a time, a director of the Bank of England. He was certainly acquiring items at auction, for example at least three lots from the celebrated sale of the collection of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos at Stowe House. While in general shape the present jug most resembles a beer-jug, the ornament clearly suggests that it could only have originally been intended for wine. As such it would seem to be an unusual survival of an identifiable wine-jug dating to the 18th century. Michael Clayton notes that such jugs were nearly indistinguishable from ale-jugs during this period, though does illustrate a pair, also by Thomas Heming, which date to 1777 (M. Clayton, The Collector's Dictionary of the Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, London, 1971, p. 63, pl. 331). Unlike the present example that pair was decorated in the Neo Classical style as would have been the fashion by the time they were made. Arthur Grimwade also illustrates a number of jugs in his book Rococo Silver, though as noted above their form is virtually unchanged from earlier examples. One however, made by Philips Garden and hallmarked for 1754, stands out (A. Grimwade, Rococo Silver, London, 1974, p. 38, pl. 17b). Like the present example it is exuberantly decorated, through Grimwade suggests it may have been intended for beer. Most interestingly perhaps is a depiction on Thomas Heming's trade card of a jug which, while of a more baluster form, shows the same use of ornament as on the present example with the suggestion of a quilted lower body and a spiral-fluted upper body and with fruiting grapevines between. An example of the trade card, believed to date to the 1760s-1770s, is in the collection of the British Museum (Heal,67.204), having been donated by Sir Ambrose Heal, Chairman of Heal's furniture store along with a large collection of other trade cards in 1960.