This rare and possibly unique claret jug was wrought in 1830 by Charles Fox II, who’s firm, already famous at that time, went on to become one of the leading manufacturers of unusual English silver and silver-mounted-glass wine ewes—commonly called claret jugs. The foot is cast, with a supporting wire to the base, The body is wrought from sheet and then chased, burnished, and fire-gilded, and burnished again. The individual steps to make the object would amount to well over 100 man-hours. Though Foxes work, like the work of his contemporaries, involves using identical castings for multiple objects, the body shape of this ewer is likely unique. The silversmith and his design workshop have drawn on baroque and mannerist styles to create an object that would have been in harmony with the rococo revival sweeping Europe at this time.

.