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

Giltly Pleasure: Sumptuous Silver-Gilt

Joseph Preedy, An Important Pair of Royal George III Wine Coolers, Silver-gilt, London, 1801. Available to Purchase at Koopman Rare Art.

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.

Elkington & Co., A Fabulous Pair of 19th Century Candelabra, Silver-Gilt, Birmingham, 1889. Available to Purchase from Koopman Rare Art.

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.

William Burwash, The Talbot Wine Coasters, Silver-Gilt, London, 1817. Available to Purchase at Koopman Rare Art.

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.

Luke Clennell (1781–1840), The Banquet Given by the Corporation to the Prince Regent, the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, 18 June 1814 (The Allied Sovereigns’ Banquet). Displayed at The Guildhall Art Gallery, Courtesy of the City of London Corporation.

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.

Philip Rundell (1746 – 1827), A Set of Four George III Silver Salts, London, 1819. Available to Purchase from Koopman Rare Art. 

Take a look at our collection of silver-gilt on our website to see the range of pieces we have for sale. 

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

KRA’s Guide to Terms & Techniques: The Richness of Rococo

Thomas Gilpin, A George II Rococo Kettle on Stand, Silver, London, 1748. Available at Koopman Rare Art. Inverted pear form chased and embossed with c-scroll and floral motifs on a matted ground, the domed side-hinged cover applied with fruiting leaf finial, the spout modelled as a phoenix head with wicker-encased carrying handle flanked by double-scroll junctions terminating in female heads.

The word Rococo originates from the French word Rocaille. Rocaille means a rock or broken shell, motifs of which were used in the formation of Rococo design. The style developed firstly in France in the 1720s in reaction to the heaviness of Baroque design and remained fashionable between 1730 and 1770. The movement in design was encouraged by the development of new expertise in lost-wax casting which enabled craftsmen to combine casting with embossing and engraving to create sculpture in silver inspired by nature. Rococo was applied across the arts to painting, music and woodwork.

Rococo Mirror at Norfolk House situated in the Music Room currently on display in The British Galleries. Courtesy of The Victoria & Albert Museum. 

Rococo went against the use of symmetry in Baroque design and moved away from the heavy influence of architectural features such as columns and pediments. Craftsmen wanted to create fanciful, lighthearted and delicate interior decoration characterized by asymmetrical forms and natural ornamentation.

Charles Thomas Fox, Pair of George IV Sauce Boats, Silver, 1826. Available at Koopman Rare Art. This pair of sauce boats illustrate beautifully delicate c-scroll handles, undulating rims inspired by waves and the bowls influenced by shell forms.

Craftsmen, threw away the rules of symmetry and played with rhythmic patterns of curves and scrolls. Ornament was celebrated for its new found richness in the depiction of the natural world. Sea shells, leaves and flowers were all depicted realistically. Reoccurring motifs also included the acanthus leaf, swirling water and eroded rock in frilly carving.

Nowadays, ‘Rococo’ has to some extent been degraded as frivolous and elaborate. Nonetheless, this opinion is down to taste and in the 1730s it was all the rage.

Paul de Lamerie (Hertogenbosch 1688 – London 1751), A Spectacular Silver Brazier, London, 1745. Available at Koopman Rare Art. Brazier framed with pierced floral decor on four boulle style lion’s feet and lion masks. 

Paul de Lamerie was the first British silversmith to work in the Rococo style. He was born in the Netherlands to French Huguenot parents who had settled in London by 1691. He received many commissions from aristocratic patrons. Some of the finest quality rococo chasing was made by an unknown master working for Paul de Lamerie, who has been coined as The Maynard Master.  Take a look the blog in our archive digging deeper into the mystery of the Maynard Master and for some examples of his works. 

 

Another leading figure in Rococo silver was Juste-Aurele Meissonier. This beautiful pair of candlesticks are a fantastic example of silversmithing in the high rococo style with aysmetrically cast urn-shaped nozzles and foliate scrolled stems. Each stem is flanked with playful putto.

Juste Aurèle Meissonier, An Extremely Rare Pair of French Louis XV Candlesticks, Ormolu & Patinated Bronze, Paris, circa 1730. Available 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