A design for the upper part of a silver wine cooler. by John Yenn, after Sir William Chambers, c. 1770

A drawing of the upper part of a silver wine cooler. Profile. Shown full size 110 x 168 mm.

A design for the upper part of a silver wine cooler. The drawing shows the left hand side of the wine cooler in profile and a view of the handle from the end. The handle is formed as an acanthus stem from which issues an acanthus scroll forming a band around the upper body. The sheet has a ruled pen and ink border, suggesting that it is a presentation drawing. This drawing shows a bellied wine cooler of French type. Bought from the dealer C. J. Richardson in 1864.
Chambers was born in Sweden and died in London. He travelled widely, visiting China, and studied architecture at the Ecole des Arts, Paris, from 1749 and in Italy from 1750 to 1755. Many of his drawings from this period are contained in his important 'Franco-Italian' album, held in the V&A. Chambers moved to London in 1755 and published his influential Treatise on Civil Architecture in 1759. Chambers demonstrated the breadth of his style in buildings such as Gower (later Carrington) House and Melbourne House, London, in such country houses as Duddingston, Scotland, and in the garden architecture he designed for Wilton House, Wiltshire, and at Kew Gardens. He became head of government building in 1782, and in this capacity built Somerset House, London. Chambers also designed furniture and silver. The silver is usually linked to clients for whom he was also designing architectural schemes. The designs for silver are all in the hand of the architect John Yenn, who was a pupil of Chambers, for whom he became a leading draughtsman, working for him from 1764 until the late 1770s, when he began to practice on his own account.

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