A George III Derbyshire Blue John vase, circa 1775, Winnats One Vein

A George III Derbyshire Blue John vase, circa 1775, Winnats One Vein, probably carved by Richard Brown for Matthew Boulton, hollow pedestal baluster form, carved with three raised bands, on Ashford marble square slab base, knopped and splayed socle foot, 34.5cm high With thanks to the Buxton Museum for their help with cataloguing and identifying the mine seam Note: Winnats One vein, from the Treak Cliff cavern, similar to the Millars Vein, was the preferred choice of Matthew Boulton in the late 18th century, for use in his ormolu mounted vases, popular with the aristocracy and gentry of Europe. Combined with a typical base of black marble from Ashford in Derbyshire, the vase epitomises a renewed pride in this unique and newly discovered local resource in an industrial age of mass production and commercialisation. Technological advances in manufacturing and mining, pioneered by Boulton and his contemporaries, were combined with the skills of traditional artisan craftsmen such as the Derby marble mason Richard Brown (who did much of the work at Kedleston Hall), to create objects of exceptionally high quality and style; in a quantity great enough to cater for a growing trend amongst the nouveau riche and aristocracy alike. Like many of his contemporaries, Boulton combined his new manufacturing technologies with ancient materials to create not only an advertisement for the beauty of the natural history and heritage of the British Isles, but also a new interpretation of the Neoclassical style so popular throughout the next 50 years.