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

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

The Warwick Vase: Hamilton’s Dig for Treasure

 

Archibald Skirving, Portrait of
Gavin Hamilton (1723 – 1798), Pastel on paper, circa. 1788. Courtesy of National Galleries of Scotland.

In 1771, Scottish artist Gavin Hamilton made a fascinating discovery at the ruins of Hadrian’s Villa, near Tivoli. Fancying himself as an antiquarian come art dealer based in Rome he carried out numerous archaeological digs. He discovered fragments of an ancient Roman marble vase with Bacchic ornament. The vase now stands, restored, in the Burrell Collection near Glasgow, Scotland.

David Allan (1744–1796), Sir William and the first Lady Hamilton in their villa in Naples, Oil on canvas, Oil on copper. Courtesy of Compton Verney Collection.

Hamilton sold the fragments to Sir William Hamilton, who was British envoy to the court of Naples.  The vase was restored by Sir William Hamilton and it later passed into the collection of Hamilton’s nephew George Greville, 2^nd Earl of Warwick. Sir William Hamilton tried to persuade the British Museum, which had purchased his collection of Etruscan vases, to purchase the vase but to no avail. He stated “ Keep it I cannot, as I shall never have a house big enough for it”.

The Warwick Vase, housed in the Burrell Collection

The first record of the vase standing in the courtyard of Warwick Castle was in 1778. In 1784, local mason William Eborall designed and built for the Earl a greenhouse at Warwick Castle. The Earl later wrote ‘I built a noble green house, and filled it with beautiful plants, I placed in it a vase, considered as the finest remains of Grecian art extant, for its size and beauty’, despite the fragments believed to be Roman.

The vase remained at Warwick Castle until 1969 when the ownership of the Castle and its contents passed to the 7^th earl David Lord Brooke. Brooke organised a sale of the works of art held in the castle. The Vase was bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art but export was luckily denied. Matching funds were raised and not considered important enough for the British Museum the vase was sent to the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

The Warwick Vase became iconic and greatly influencial in early 19th century design. Two bronze models were made of The Warwick Vase by Rundell. One was sold by Rundell’s to George IV who had it placed at Windsor. The other was bought by Duke of Northumberland who had just been appointed Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, to present it to the university. It is now displayed in the middle of the lawn before Gibbs’ Senate House. Porcelain versions were being made by Rockingham and Worcester. A stunning example of which is held in the Royal Collection. This classical design became a part of the British visual repertory, even becoming the model for the silver-gilt tennis trophy, the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup won at the Australian Open.

The Norman Brookes Challenge Cup click here to watch the cup being made 

The form was also manipulated for tea services and saltcellars.

John Edward Terrey, A George IV Four-Piece Tea And Coffee Service. For sale at Koopman Rare Art,

This tea service was modeled in the style of the Warwick Vase. The large looping handles and cylindrical form create a grand and impressive tea service. Available at Koopman it is a silver George IV tea and coffee service, engraved with the coat-of arms for Maynard impaling another.  The pots are decorated with fruit finials and ivory insulators in the handles, the spouts formed as tritons sounding conch-shell horns, the whole set richly decorated with acanthus leaf ornament.

Paul Storr (Westminster 1771 – Tooting 1844), An Impressive Regency Warwick Vase on Silver Stand. For sale at Koopman Rare Art.

Here is a a majestic and beautiful example of a Warwick vase by Paul Storr. The Cowper Warwick Vase was presented to Captain William Cowper (1774-1825) who was a military engineer. He succeeded in building two dry docks in the port of Bombay despite numerous difficulties, including a lack of skilled workmen and problems with hard rock and tides.

Another exceptional Warwick Vase available at Koopman Rare Art is this silver-gilt vase by Paul Storr.

Paul Storr (Westminster 1771 – Tooting 1844) An Exceptional Warwick Vase on Stand with Caribbean Interest. For sale at Koopman Rare Art.

The Warwick Vase was presented to James Anthill, Chief Justice of Antigua by the legislature of the island. The vase is mentioned in his will of 1822:

‘….my books, and the silver-gilt vase given me by the Legislature of the Island, and if he die before me I give the 1786 May 25 Samuel Harman to Mary Athill, sp^ L. 1788 Sept. 25 ‘

The vase bears the crest of Anthill and the base is inscribed with his coat of arms and the presentation inscription, describing Anthill as ‘Honorable’. The vase was given ‘to commemorate their exalted Sense of the Ardour of his Patriotism, The Splendour of his Talents and The Integrety of his Life.’

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

The Jolly Duchess: Harriot Mellon

This is the story of the illegitimate daughter of a strolling player who became the Duchess of St Albans and one of the richest women in Britain. Famously described by 14th Duke of St Albans as ‘a generous character and that is always a special quality’.

William Beechey, Harriot Beauclerk (née Mellon), Duchess of St Albans, Oil on canvas, Circa 1815. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery 

Harriot Beauclerk, Duchess of St. Albans (née Mellon) was born in London in 1777. She was the daughter of a wardrobe mistress and actress in a band of strolling players. Harriot grew up surrounded by the group of talented performers. Her mother married violinist Thomas Entwisle who taught her how to sing and dance, the desire to perform running through her blood. The family went on to join the respected acting company owned by Thomas Bibby which toured the theatres of the North.

In 1787, Harriot made her debut playing ‘Little Pickle’ in The Spoiled Child at Ulverston. However, her major breakthrough came when she was spotted by playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. As a result she worked for a season at the magnificent Drury Lane Theatre in January 1795 as Lydia Languish in Sheridan’s The Rivals .Throughout her successful career she acted as an understudy to Dorothea Jordan and Sarah Siddons and was best remembered for her role as Volante in John Tobin’s The Honeymoon, performed in 1805.

George Clint, Scene from John Tobin’s The Honeymoon, Oil on canvas, circa. 1835. Courtesy of The Victoria & Albert Museum

Mellon’s fame rose in 1815 when she married the banker Thomas Coutts. Whilst her acting career came to an end, she had found her perfect partner who she described as ‘the most perfect being that ever breathed’. Mellon had been Coutts’ mistress before his first wife, Elizabeth Starkey, passed away in 1815. As a result of the scandal their marriage was conducted in private so as not to upset his three daughters from his previous marriage. Thomas Coutts did all he could to protect his beloved from his daughter’s hostility. Together they threw lavish parties and entertained important guests such as Wordsworth and Samuel Rogers to their properties across the country, her favorite being Holly Lodge in Highgate.

Unfortunately, Coutts died in 1822.  Harriot inherited his estate including his 50% stake in Coutts & Co. and became the senior partner at Coutts.  Harriot carried Thomas’ vision forward taking an active role in decision making and business operations. Her fame grew as her position in society strengthened respected as a business woman, a real anomaly in the chauvinistic world she lived in.

Charles Turner, after Sir William Beechey,
Harriot Beauclerk (née Mellon), Duchess of St Albans, 
mezzotint, published 1806. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery. 

However, in 1827 Harriot married William Aubrey de Vere the 9^th Duke of St Albans, who was 23 years her junior. This caused an outcry and Harriot became subject to a number of sarcastic caricatures and criticism.

Henry Heath, The Wedding Day, Etching, 1827. Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery. 

Her close friend Sir Walter Scott wrote to Harriot to congratulate her on her second marriage. Her reply to Scott was quoted in full in his journal for 30 June 1827:

‘What a strange eventful life has mine been, from a poor little player child, with just food and clothes to cover me, dependent on a very precarious profession, without talent or a friend in the world – first the wife of the best, the most perfect being that ever breathed …and now the wife of a Duke! You must write my life… my true history written by the author of Waverley”^[3]

Henry Fuseli, Harriot Mellon, Pencil, 1815. Courtesy of Lowell Libson.

 

Harriot was a keen collector amassing a fantastic collection of old master paintings and silver. She sat for some of the most important artists of the time including Sir William Beechey, George Romney and Sir Thomas Lawrence. On her death in 1830 she left to the Duke of St Albans £10,000 a year for his lifetime along with both the properties based in London. The rest of her fortune and estate worth approximately £1.8 million was left to Angela Burdett, the youngest of Thomas’ grandchildren.

The majority of her silver collection was placed in a vault at Coutt’s bank until 1914. On 14^th May 1914 Christie’s, London held the Coutts Heirlooms sale including a service by Paul Storr after the designs by E. Hodges Baily.  A number of Harriot’s pieces of silver have passed through the doors at Koopman Rare Art including a George III cheese dish made by Robert Hennell II in London 1812 which was sold to a private collection. Below are two items that were once in the collection of the Duchess of St. Albans and are now available at Koopman Rare Art.

William Pitts, An Exceptional Pair of George III Candelabra. Available at Koopman Rare Art. 

This pair of George III candelabra stamped with the maker’s mark of William Pitts belonged to Harriot. They are elaborately cast and chased with lion masks, dolphins, eagles and dragons representing the four elements within swirling scrolls, flowers and rocaille on a matted ground. This pair of candelabra are initialled and not engraved with the full St Albans armorials, a testimony to her strength of character and independence.

Robert-Joseph Auguste, A Pair of Louis XVI French Dishes on Stands. Available at Koopman Rare Art.

This pair of Louis XVI French dishes on stands were also part of Harriot’s collection. The pair were made in Paris between 1785-1789 by Henri Auguste and Robert Joseph Auguste. Both the covers and bases are engraved with the coronet & monogram of Harriet Duchess of St Albans. A selection of wonderful pieces of silver which do not only represent some of the maker’s most prestigious and important pieces but also hold provenance relating to one of the richest female characters of the 19th century.

Visit our gallery 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:

020 7242 7624 / info@koopmanrareart.com