Glass Cooler (Monteith)

A form presumably developed in Scotland, the monteith, with its notched or scalloped rim, was used to rinse or cool upended wineglasses. This example, which has a removable rim, could also have served as a punch bowl. This monteith bears the arms of Sir Richard Cox (1650-1733) of Castletown Cox, Co. Kilkenny on one side and those of James Butler the 2nd Duke of Ormonde (1665-1745) on the other. Upon becoming Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1703, Sir Richard Cox received the Great Seal of the previous Lord Chancellor as well as the Seal of the Common Pleas. He ordered them to be melted down to create a "handsome Monteth" with both his own arms and those of the 2nd Duke of Ormonde, who had become Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1703. Born in Co. Meath, Ireland, Thomas Bolton (c. 1658-1736) was one of the foremost goldsmiths working in Ireland at the turn of the 17th century. He became a freeman of the Dublin Goldsmiths' Company in 1686, warden in 1690 and assay master in 1692.