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