Description:
Silver tankard with a high domed, stepped cover without a finial (a common Philadelphia form) and a scroll handle terminating with a cast cherub's head terminal, which is marked "WV" over a star in a heart for William Vilant (made about 1725). About 1750, Joseph Leddel (c.1690-1754) engraved the Leddel family demi-lion crest on the cover and the initials "L/ I M" for Joseph and Mary Leddel over "Joseph Leddel. Sculp. 1750" on the handle. Leddel's engraving around the sides represents a testament of allegiance and loyalty to the English monarchy against the Jacobite supporters of the exiled Stuarts. There are portrait heads of three contemporary political figures over three panels with scenes from Ovid and Latin mottoes interpreting the role of each man in the Jacobite controversy. To the left of the handle: Philip Dormer Stanhope (1694-1773), 4th Earl of Chesterfield, based on a William Hoare (1706-1799) portrait, who was lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1745 and supressed pro-Jacobite uprisings inspired by "Bonnie Prince Charlie," Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), landing in Scotland; over a scene and inscription, "Penelope conjux semper Ulyssis ero" or "Penelope will always be the faithful wife of Ulysses" recording Penelope's faithfulness to her husband, Ulysses. In the middle: Simon Fraser (1667?-1747), Lord Lovat, based on a William Hogarth (1697-1764) caricature of Lovat done in 1746, who sent his son to fight for Prince Charles while professing loyalty to George II; over Eros over Europa and the Bull and the inscription "Nobilitas sub amore jacet" or "Noblility lies beneath love." To the right: Philip Yorke (1690-1764), 1st Earl of Hardwicke, based on a Thomas Hudson (1701-1779) portrait, who was appointed Lord High Steward in 1746 for the trial of Lovat who was executed for treason in 1747, over figures holding cornacopiae and a bull being sacrificed and "Divesque meo bona copia cornu" or "And a rich good abundance for my horn." The base of each panel has a mask, the two side ones smiling and the center frowning. The names of "Philip Lord Hardwicke Lord / Lord High Chancellor / Lord High Steward / 1741 / Philip Secretary of State / Lord Lovat Lord" and the weight "oz/28gr/16" are engraved on the base. This tankard was one of 92 pieces in the Watson-Crichton Collection (Watson #37), acquired by the Flynts in 1954 from Victor A. Watson (1897-1974), son-in-law and partner of Lionel Alfred Crichton (1866-1938) who wrote of purchasing this tankard in a 1928 letter to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In May 1929, there is also an article in "The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs" describing Crichton's recent purchase of this tankard. Wgt. 27 ozs., 8dwts., 8 grs.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.483 |
