Wine Cooler

In the 18th century, open wine cisterns were replaced by covered wine coolers, which kept wine cold for a longer period of time. This example is based on Roman sarcophagi and has been given expressive form by the Dublin architect Francis Johnston. A variation on a plate in Thomas Sheraton’s Cabinet Dictionary (1803), it has richly carved ornamentation—including a cluster of grapes and four lions’ heads, representing Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry. Made for Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (elder brother of the Duke of Wellington) while serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, it was probably used in Dublin Castle, his official residence. As Wellesley was a founding member of the Order of Saint Patrick in 1783 and in 1810 became a member of the Order of the Garter, his badges for these societies appear on either side of a crowned harp emerging from a field of shamrocks.