Viva Brighton Issue #76 June 2019

CURATOR’S CITY
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were won by George’s own horse Orville, a
famous racehorse which he had bought less
than a year earlier from Christopher Wilson.
George could hardly present the cup to
himself and was so grateful to Wilson that he
decided to give it to him instead, as a mark of
his pleasure at the success of Orville. He duly
inscribed it ‘The Gift of His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales to Chris. Wilson’. The
cup remained in the Wilson family until 1952,
when it was acquired by the Royal Pavilion
with the help of the Art Fund. Even its original
After James Sayers: Prince of Wales. 1788
financially. The first grandstand, seen in a print
by Thomas Rowlandson, was built in 1788, and
it is likely that the races were one of the main
reasons George was attracted to the area.
The large vase-shaped lidded Brighton Cup is
made from solid silver covered with a thin layer
of gold (‘silver-gilt’). It was commissioned by
George (when Prince of Wales) in 1804 as a
trophy for the Brighton Races of 30 July 1805.
case survives, which was too large to include in
the exhibition.
There is another extraordinary object in
our collection that relates to the cup, and it
is currently displayed next to it: A letter to
Christopher Wilson at Newmarket, written by
George himself, at the Royal Pavilion on 28
October 1804, complete with the royal seal. In
it a grateful George thanks Wilson for selling
him Orville: ‘I can not help writing you a line,
to thank you for letting me
become the [purchaser] of
Orville. I assure You I am
most sensible of your kind
attention to me on this as
well as on all other [occasions?].’
He adds
John Emes/Rundell, Bridge & Rundell: The Brighton Cup. 1804
Fittingly, it is topped by the Prince of Wales’
‘that there
feathers, which we also see on the East front
is always [a]
of the Pavilion and in many other locations in
good cheer
the building. Made by John Emes for the Royal
at the Pavilion,
goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, the
& that there is
cup cost George more than £157. On one side
always a hearty
a plaque depicts a view of the Royal Pavilion in
welcome ready for
its early stage, a neo-classical building designed
you there or at Carl-
by Henry Holland; on the other the figure of
ton House’. Alexandra
Victory presents a laurel wreath to the winner
Loske, Art Historian and
of a classical horse race (with nude riders!).
Curator, The Royal
As luck would have it, the 1805 Brighton Races
Pavilion
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