The Walpole Salver: ‘Hogarthian’ Style

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.

William Hogarth, Ellis Gamble’s Shop Card, Engraving, 1723-1733. Courtesy of The British Museum.

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.

 

William Hogarth’s engraved trade card, produced to advertise the printmaking business which the young artist set up in 1720 after leaving his apprenticeship with Ellis Gamble. Courtesy of The Royal Collection.

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 18^th 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.

Paul de Lamerie (Hertogenbosch 1688 – London 1751), A George II Silver Second-Course Dish, Silver, London, 1725

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.

William Hogarth , Marriage A-la Mode: 1. The Marriage Settlement, 1745 
Oil on canvas 

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.

Tea Caddy by Paul de Lamerie, engraved by William Hogarth & designed by Ellis Gamble. Courtesy of The Victoria & Albert Museum.

Walpole Salver

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.

Salver by Paul de Lamerie, engraved by William Hogarth. Courtesy of The Victoria & Albert Museum.

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.

Impression from a silver tankard, Lithography by E. Chavanes after William Hogarth, 1833. Courtesy of Orbis Antique Prints.

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:

020 7242 7624 / info@koopmanrareart.com

KRA’s Guide to Terms & Techniques: The Intricacy of Guilloche

Alexander James Strachan,A George III Gold Engine Turned Snuff Box, Marked 18ct, London, 1818. Available to Purchase at Koopman Rare Art.

Guilloche or engine turning is the term given to very fine, intricate geometric patterns which are mechanically engraved into soft materials such as wood, ivory, silver and gold. The machine used to produce this effect is called a lathe which uses a rotating drive which turns the piece being worked on against changeable cutting tools. A rose engine lathe was introduced later, which allowed for more intricate design and repetition of motif.

This precious bound book has been decorated using a rose engine lathe. It creates a mesmerizing effect across the gold box.

Alexander James Strachan, An Exquisite Georgian Book Snuff Box, Marked 18ct, London, 1803. Available to Purchase at Koopman Rare Art.

 

 

 

Engine turning can be traced back in history as far as the 15^th century and is believed to have been first practiced on ivory and wood. However, the practice rose to prevalence in the European courts in the 17^th century, 18th & 19th centuries. It was common for royal courts to have dedicated rooms for turning where skills could be watched for education and entertainment.

Some of the most prestigious designs made by lathes have come from the workshops of rulers including Maximilian I of Austria, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia, Louis XV and King James I among a long list of others. Guilloche on metal is believed to have begun between 1700-1750. Guilloche on gold and silver became particularly popular in the mid to late 19^th century peaking between 1880-1930. In particular Faberge was renowned for intricate and extensive guilloche that was used on the backgrounds of transparent enamels to create a gem like glow and optical spectacle. This technique was used by Karl Faberge to create his iconic eggs for Tzar Alexander III of Russia. The rose engine cut a series of parallel lines into the metal surface onto which the enamel was applied.

Alexander James Strachan, A Georgian Toothpick Case, Marked 18ct, London, 1815. Available to Purchase at Koopman Rare Art.

Alexander Strachan

One of the most renowned goldsmiths working with guilloche to the most unprecedented standard was Alexander Strachan (1774-1850).  Strachan registered his mark as a smallerworker at the Goldsmith’s Hall on 21^st September 1799 whilst he was living at Long Acre in London. His insurance policy of 1824 descirbed him as a ‘Jeweller and Engine Turner’. Strachan was the principle supplier of gold boxes to Rundell, Bridge & Rundell who were the royal  goldsmiths. Strachan also supplied the retailers Thomas Holland and Coward & Smith. In 1839 he retired to Brighton where he struggled financially before finally passing in 1850.

This gold oval snuff box is decorated with a central cartouche encircled by a laurel and filled with a four colour gold relief of an allegorical scene of music. The whole box is engine turned with laurel borders of swags and rosettes. The sides of the box with roundels topped with white gold ribbons depicting scenes of musical instruments.

 

Charles Le Bastier, A French Vari-Colour Oval Gold Box, Paris, 1778/1779. Available to Purchase at Koopman Rare Art.

Guilloche, the popular engraving technique was used for snuffboxes, jewellery and watches. Snuffboxes were ornamented boxes for holding snuff, a powdered tobacco. It was common practice in 17th century England to sniff or inhale a pinch of snuff. By the 18th century the practice had spread to other European countries. They were designed to either fit in the jacket pocket of a gentleman or be displayed on the dinner table for guests. It was an opportunity to illustrate your wealth and prestige through the quality and design of your snuff box. Top quality snuff boxes were made of gold and were sometimes decorated with portrait miniatures, enamelling, micromosaics or jewels. Snuff boxes were commonly decorated with engine turning and below we are exploring the different types of engraved designs engine turning could achieve. There are two main patterns of engine turning, rose engine and straight line. Here are a number of examples: 

 

Barleycorn Pattern

Concentric Pattern

Lightning Pattern

Pinwheel Pattern

Here is a French gold snuff box made in Paris 1789 By Jean Edme Julliot. It is a canted rectangular form with engine decorated border with lattice panel of beaded and rose head decoration. The lid has been engine turned using a consecutive cut pattern as shown in the diagram below, a series of wavy lines which run parallel to one another.

A French gold snuff box , Paris 1789 By Jean Edme Julliot marks to lid and base, of canted rectangular form with engine decorated border with consecutive cut engine turn pattern on lid. Available to Purchase at Koopman Rare Art.

Engine Turning Patterns. Courtesy of G. Phil Poirer. Follow link for an extremely interesting article on the history of guilloche.

To seen engine turning in progress take a look at the video below courtesy of Rio Grande.

 

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:

020 7242 7624 / info@koopmanrareart.com

 

Best of : Fine Art Asia, Hong Kong 2017

Last month we attended Asia’s leading fine art fair, Fine Art Asia in Hong Kong.  Koopman Rare Art have exhibited in Hong Kong since 2011 and have seen the fair grow from strength to strength. Our beautiful ewers by Edward Farrell printed on a huge scale looked fantastic at the entrance to the fair.

 ‘We are delighted with the high level of positive interest in top quality silver as well as the number of sales achieved across the board’ Lewis Smith, Director 

Lewis Smith, one of the directors of Koopman Rare Art, gave a guided tour of the Koopman Rare Art booth for UBS Global Art. It was a well attended talk and guests were interested in the history and glamour of the pieces.

This year we exhibited high quality examples of English and continental antique silver alongside a collection of over 50 pieces of Chinese export silver ranging in date from circa 1830 through to the first few decades of the 20th century.

‘Not surprisingly, Chinese export silver generated a considerable amount of interest particularly by Chinese collectors who are keen to buy back what they regard as an important part of China’s silversmithing heritage.’ Lewis Smith, Director

We had interest not only from private collectors but we also sold several rare and interesting pieces to a museum in mainland China.

Among the highlights sold was a Chinese export silver canister bearing the retailer’s mark of Cum Shing of Old China Street, Canton. The canister was ornately decorated with beautiful birds sitting in blossom trees together with climbing bamboo and chrysanthemum. The canister’s finial in the shape of dragon, an important symbol in Chinese heritage representing the Emperor and a commercially attractive design for Chinese buyers.

Cum Shing, Chinese Export Silver Canister, circa 1880. Sold at Fine Art Asia by Koopman Rare Art. 

Decorative silver proved popular and silver by renowned silversmiths such as Paul Storr continue to be sought after. We also sold a pair of Paul Storr entree dishes made in London in 1810. The covers engraved on each side with coat of arms, motto and supporters below a coronet for William, 1^st Earl of Lonsdale the bases with crest and royal garters, ‘honi soit qui mal y pense.’

Paul Storr, Pair of George III Entree Dishes & Covers, London 1810. Sold at Fine Art Asia by Koopman Rare Art.

 

We invited you to visit 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:

020 7242 7624 / info@koopmanrareart.com

Run Along & Sneer: The Code of Woosters

John Schuppe, An 18th Century Silver Cow Creamer, London 1763. For sale at Koopman Rare Art.

On 7th October 1928 P.G. Wodehouse’s novel The Code of the Woosters was published as the sequel to Right Ho, Jeeves by Herbert Jenkins and Doubleday, Doran.

A story tells the tale of the heated competition between two art collectors, both of which desire an especially valuable silver cow creamer.

Bertie Wooster, the narrator of the book, is asked by his Aunt Dahlia to help her source the cow creamer for her husband Tom. A recent unlucky spell had meant he was constantly out bid by other collectors for items he wholeheartedly desired. Aunt Dahlia orders Bertie to visit the antique dealer selling the valuable 18th century silver cow creamer and convince the dealer to knock down the price. However, the butler, Jeeves , suggests a more cunning plan. Bertie Wooster is sent to sneer at the cow creamer and declare it a mere Dutch modern copy in order to push the dealer’s price down.

Lowestoft Porcelain Factory, Cow creamer and cover, soft-paste porcelain, circa 1770. Courtesy of The British Museum. 

Nonetheless, it does not go to plan bumping into the rival silver collector, Sir Watkyn in the shop. It is revealed that the collector has bought the creamer ahead of Tom Travers and taken it to his residences in Totleigh Towers.

In great despair Aunt Dahlia sends Bertie to recover the cow creamer which is now being guarded in the towers by Roderick Spode and the local police.

St. Anthony’s, Newcastle, Cow Creamer, circa 1790. Courtesy of the Keiller Collection at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Staffordshire.

Wodehouse’s novel brings this wonderful novelty cow creamer to light in a amusing tale. The cow creamer is eventually passed to Tom Travers and Bertie Woosters adventures are complete.

The Origin

The earliest examples of cow creamers originated in Holland in the shape of a cow with an opening or lid on its back for filling. From about 1740 these cow creamers became popular in England made in saltglaze stoneware from the Staffordshire potteries. From  1750 English silverware examples were being made. They have continued to be produced in both silver and ceramics. The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Staffordshire holds the Keiller collection of 667 ceramic cow-creamers. Some of the finest examples of cow creamers were made by silversmith John Schuppe.

John Schuppe was a Dutch émigré worker in London. In 1753 his mark was entered as largeworker to Little Deans Court, St. Martins Le Grand. By 1755 he was registered to 6 New Rents. Schuppe’s mark almost entirely appears on cream jugs modelled in the Dutch taste as cows but is occasionally met with other small fancies such as figure taper-sticks.

John Schuppe, An 18th Century Silver Cow Creamer, London 1763. For sale at Koopman Rare Art.

Some 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:

020 7242 7624 / info@koopmanrareart.com