Description:
One of a pair of square silver salvers (see also mate HD 75.182), the raised curved rims have molded edges and are indented at the corners, they are flat chased with diapered panels, with central quatrefoil panels enclosing masks, and with foliage on each point, the flat surfaces are flat-chased with a border of scrolled foliage with husk ends within outer panels having a hatched ground, with central oval shields containing classical busts with scrolled and foliated surroundes, and at the corners with similar ornament, the shields engraved with the crest, within the Garter with motto of Sir Robert Walpole, K. G. There are four indented, scrolled and molded feet, marked on underside with a crown and star over "LA" over a fleur-de-lys for Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751); the date letter "N" for 1728-1729; and the London hallmarks - Britannia standard and lion's head erased. The reverse is engraved: "BOUGHT AT STRAWBERRY HILL, 1842, BY CHARLES MILLS, ESQ." Weight: 52 oz. 16 dwt (1,642 g). Provenance: Bought ditto (L32 7s 0d); Charles Mills, by descent to the 3rd Baron Hillingdon, sale Christies London, 21 June 1933, lot 57. These salvers were supplied in the same year as the seal salver (owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum); these salvers are engraved with Walpole arms impaling Shorter as they appear on the fluted dishes by David Willaume. After the repeal of Edict of Nantes in 1685, De Lamerie's French Huguenot family fled France for Holland where he was born, and then moved to London in 1689. In 1703, Paul was apprenticed to the Huguenot silversmith, Pierre Platel, and entered his first mark at Goldsmiths' Hall in 1713; he later became one of the most important silversmiths of his time, excelling in many styles, from simple to ornate. The original owner of the salvers, Sir Robert Walpole (1676-1745) married Catherine Shorter (1682-1737) in 1700, and was generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. The salvers passed to his son Horace (1717-1797), author and wit, and formed part of the famous collection at his home, called Strawberry Hill, on the Thames near London. His collection was sold in the Strawberry Hill Sale of 1842, lot 121: "A pair of handsome 9-INCH DITTO, chased borders, with engraved medallions of Britiannia, on scroll feet." The salvers are engraved in the Hogarthian manner, so called after a salver made for Sir Robert Walpole in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was later engraved by the artist and social satirist, William Hogarth (1697-1764). Philip Phillips described them: "The raised curved rims have moulded edges and are indented at the corners; they are flat-chased with diapered panels, with central quatrefoil panels enclosing masks, and with foliage on each point. The flat surfaces are flat-chased with a border of scrolled foliage with husk ends within outer panels having a hatched ground, with central oval shields containing classical busts with scrolled and foliated surrounds, and at the.." In 1661, Thomas Blount in his "Glossographia" defined the salver as: "a new fashioned piece of wrought plate broad and flat, with a foot underneath, and is used in giving Beer, or other liquid thing, to save the Carpit and Cloathes from drops."
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+75.182 |
