MARK OF SAMUEL COURTAULD, LONDON, 1764

This cup demonstrates Samuel Courtauld's mastery of his craft, and as Philippa Glanville notes in her catalogue essay in Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England, 1984, is "an example of the rococo manner in one of its last stages of development" (p. 121). It bears striking resemblance to the virtuosic cup and cover illustrated on London silversmith Thomas Heming's (d. 1795-1801) trade card, engraved in 1760 by Robert Clee (illustrated below). Both pieces show Courtauld's and Heming's familiarity with the styles of earlier Parisian goldsmiths, particularly the work of Pierre Germain, father of Thomas Germain. A more direct influence may have been the rococo designs of Huguenot silversmiths working in London in the 1730s and 1740s, including Frederick Kandler, Paul de Lamerie, and George Wickes.

A very similar silver-gilt cup and cover by Heming, dated 1753, was sold in these Rooms on 20 April 1987, lot 529, and another also by Heming is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.