We have just returned from an extremely busy and exciting show at TEFAF Maastricht. This years 2018 proved to be one of the best ever.
The 70,000 plus visitors that came this year were once more wowed by the amazing exhibits to be seen and keento have them as additions to their collection. Dealers, collectors, curators and institutions were all there in force.
A Set of Four George II Candlesticks. London, 1745 by Paul Crespin. Designed by William Kent
This superb set of four candlesticks made for Henry Fiennes Pelham-Clinton the 2nd Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme sold for a significant six figure sum. A comparable but later set of candlesticks can be found at the V & A and Metropolitan museums.
An Exceptional George III Ambassadorial Mirror Plateau. London, 1806 by Digby Scott & Benjamin Smith.
In addition a Royal ambassadorial mirror plateau made for Charles William, 1st Baron Stuart was also sold. This plateau, bearing both the arms of Stuart and the Royal arms of King George III was supplied by the Jewel House for our new ambassador serving in Vienna.
Buying was strong internationally and sales of gold boxes and jewellery were also to be noted.
Our next event will be held in London at the masterpiece fair in the grounds of Chelsea Hospital which opens for preview on 27th June and then runs from 28th June to 4th July.
The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting darker and the jingle of Santa’s sleigh is growing ever louder. What better excuse to cosy down by a roaring fire with a mug of cocoa or a good brew !
Koopman Rare Art have just the thing to sort that winter chill and get you all warmed up. The pieces we have selected are not only extremely useful for serving hot water, coffee, chocolate and brewing tea but are also beautiful and elegant.
This stunning antique silver tea urn by Paul Storr is beautifully elegant and detailed with a crown and griffin finial and gadrooned rim. The handles are cast with lion masks and the spout is formed as a rather lovely goose. The urn is supported on a square base ending in paw feet. This urn is perfect for dispensing hot water to make tea with a tap that allows for easy pouring.
Early examples of tea urns were made to rest upon a brazier. The brazier held charcoal that burnt to produce heat. Hot air rising from the brazier passed through a fixed vertical copper tube inside the urn heating the surrounding water. Braziers were also used for warming plates, lighting cigars and cigarettes or for generating heat to sit around at the dinner table. We have a couple of magnificent braziers one dating to circa 1660, made in Palma, Mallorca.
This Mallorcan brazier is has a semi spherical bowl, with a dotted outer border and two oval-shaped handles on the sides. The base which it is fixed has a hexagonal shape. It is made up of two overlying structures which have their own platforms decorated with embossed foliage motifs, oval mirrors, pyramids topped with ball and fantastic beings. A rare and exquisite piece of silver-gilt this could serve as not only a brazier but a centrepiece to any dining table.
This is a later example of a brazier made in London 1745 by important silversmith Paul de Lamerie. The four lions faces that appear on the side of the brazier are of the most exceptional and striking quality. Unlike the conventional lions heads which are seen on other silver pieces of the period these are completely out of the ordinary in terms of their realism and expression. This is a phenomenal piece of tableware that deserves to be seen as much more than simply a brazier.
Feeling a bit warmer ? Now for some hot cocoa …
This magnificent George II silver chocolate pot dates to London 1759 and was made by Fuller White. The pot is decorated with a gadroon border with a detachable fluted finial and detachable cover secured by a pin terminating in a heart motif. The brilliant spout is decorated with leaf and scroll-embellishments all terminating in an eagle’s head. They may say ‘It’s what’s on the inside that counts’ but we can assure you it tastes so much better when the outside is as beautiful as this chocolate pot !
Hot chocolate not your winter warmer? How about a good strong coffee to help you through the cold winter mornings ? This stunning Paul Storr coffee pot on stand is an exceptional example of a coffee pot on its original burner. It is in wonderful condition as it beautifully decorated throughout to the highest quality as would be expected by Storr’s work.
These works are available to view and purchase in our gallery located at Koopman Rare Art, The London Silver Vaults, 53/64 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1QS
For all enquiries please do not hesitate to call or email on:
We are celebrating the craftsmanship of William Hogarth born on this day in 1697 (10th November). Hogarth was born to Richard Hogarth, a schoolmaster and Anne Gibbons who came from a working class background. At the age of 14 in 1714 Hogarth was apprenticed to Ellis Gamble in Leicester Fields as an engraver.
Ellis Gamble was a gold and silversmith who was in partnership with silversmith Paul de Lamerie from 1723-28. Hogarth started by mainly engraving trade cards, however he never finished his apprenticeship but continued to experiment with engraving as an independent engraver for copper plates.
He experimented with designs and his early commissions included works for book illustrations, single prints and cards. Paul de Lamerie was one of the greatest silversmiths working in England in the 18th century. The son of Hugenot parents he came to London as a small child fleeing prosecution in France. Around 1720 de Lamerie started working with Hogarth whom he met whilst he was working under Ellis Gamble. The ‘Hogarthian’ style of engraving had a huge impact on the pieces designed and made by, not just de Lamerie, but most other silversmiths from this period. Exceptional engraving such as Hogarth’s added another dimension of craftsmanship to a silversmith’s work helping to create pieces of the highest quality and design.
In 1720 Hogarth enrolled at the John Vanderbank Art Academy and was taught painting by James Thornhill from around 1726. Hogarth is best known for his series of paintings depicting satirical modern moral subjects. Hogarth sold engravings of popular scenes on subscription. Most famously series such as Marriage-A-la-Mode, The Harlot’s Progress (1731) and The Rake’s Progress. Harlot’s Progress was about the life of a prostitute and was very different to anything else that had been produced up until this date. Rake’s Progress shows the decline of a young man into a life of drinking and immoral behaviour.
This tea caddy was engraved with the coats of arms by Hogarth, after a design by Ellis Gamble. The same coats of arms appears on a silver-gilt spoon tray by de Lamerie which suggests that this caddy was a part of a larger tea service.
The Walpole Salver, held in the collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum is the most famous piece of silver known to be engraved by William Hogarth. The salver was made by Paul de Lamerie between 1728 and 1729. It is a square salver on square feet with a cast and applied rim. Not only is it magnificently engraved with an intricate design it is one of Paul de Lamerie’s best known pieces of silversmithing.
The salver was commissioned by Sir Robert Walpole to commemorate his terms as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The seal roundels are supported by a figure of Hercules flanked by allegorical figures representing calumny and envy. The salver shows a view of the City of London in the background. Elaborate strapwork decorates the border which runs between masks representing the four seasons and four cartouches located in the corners. The cartouches encompass the double cipher ‘RW’, the arms of Walpole quatering those of his wife Catherine Shorter and the Walpole crest of a Saracen’s head.
Our gallery is located at Koopman Rare Art, The London Silver Vaults, 53/64 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1QS, please feel free to visit or take a look at our stock on our website www.koopman.art
For all enquiries please do not hesitate to call or email on:
Man has long been fascinated with the glitter of gold but its high cost and great softness rendered it impractical for many purposes. Demand for gold drove silversmiths to devise methods of applying gold to silver in order to finish objects with a luxurious radiance. Silver dipped or plated in gold is called silver gilt or vermeil in French.
The process of gilding has developed through the ages and differed across the globe. In pre-Columbian South America Incas used depletion gilding by producing a layer of nearly pure gold on an object of gold alloy by the removal of other metals from its surface. Another popular ancient process, mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey, was the method of overlaying or folding of gold leaf. Fire gilding with mercury was another process, which involved applying an amalgam of gold and mercury to the silver surface. The heat caused a strong bond between the gold and silver. This process was commonly used from the sixth century BC until quite recently. Electroplating has now taken over from this process using electrolysis to coat the surface with gold.
The process of gilding, however was costly. While in 1664 Samuel Pepys complained that the cost of ‘fashion’ or the making of a piece, had risen to the same level as the raw material itself (both were 5 shillings an ounce) gilding the finished article could cost an additional 3 shillings an ounce. Gilding added approximately 25 percent to the total cost; this was considerably more than commissioning an object in silver yet still less than one in gold. By the Middle Ages European gold was worth ten to twelve times more than silver but by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the price ratio had risen to fifteen to one. Even so achieving the golden look through gilding became ever more popular.
Silver gilt objects were often used as status symbols as exemplified by this painting of the guildhall banquet by Luke Clennell held in 1814 for the prince regent the Tsar of Russia and the King of Prussia. One dinner service is in silver gilt the other quite intentionally in silver – superior guests presented with silver gilt and the less important with silver!
Another important service is The Grand Service held in the Royal Collection. This magnificent silver-gilt dining service was commissioned by George IV. It is made up of over 4000 pieces for dining and display made by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell costing £60,000. The Grand Service is used today for all state banquets. Watch the video below taken from within Buckingham Palace showing the ballroom being prepared for a state banquet with the beautiful and elaborate silver-gilt Grand Service.
Some of the most famous silver-gilt services throughout history belonged to General Count Francois Xavier Branicki, Count Nikolai Demidoff and the Borghese service. At Koopman Rare Art pieces from these three collections have passed through the doors and are most certainly some of the most impressive pieces of antique silver. The popularity for silver-gilt soar on both sides of the channel and important silversmiths such as Maison Odiot, Martin Guillaume Biennais, Benjamin Smith and Paul Storr were leading the way.
On a more practical note silver-gilt tarnishes at a slower rate, it is lighter in weight than pure gold and much more durable. Sometimes for this reason the inside of silver pieces would be lined with gold a design called parcel-gilt like these salts by Philip Rundell to help preserve the inside from acid corrosion and tarnishing.
All of these works are available to view in our gallery located at Koopman Rare Art, The London Silver Vaults, 53/64 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1QS or on our website www.koopman.art
For all enquiries please do not hesitate to call or email on:
Koopman Rare Art 