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Lot Essay
ALGERNON COOTE, 6TH EARL OF MOUNTRATH
Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of Mountrath (1689-1744) was the third son of Charles Coote, 3th Earl of Mountrath (c.1655-1708) and his wife Lady Isabella Dormer, daughter of 2nd and last Earl of Carnarvon. He was educated at St Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1706. Coote was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Jamestown in 1715 and shortly after, following the death of his two brothers he succeeded to the earldom on 27 March 1720 and thus retired from the House, though he was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland in 1723. He entered Parliament in the same year as member for Castle Rising in Norfolk, which he represented for ten years, later standing for Hedon in Yorkshire. Though Mountrath was initially declared defeated in the contest for Hedon he successfully petitioned the House of Commons and was declared elected after all. He sat as member for the borough until his death in 1744.
In 1721 he married Lady Diana Newport (d. 1766), daughter of The Earl of Bradford. Newport was described by Horace Walpole as being " as rich and as tipsy as Cacofogo in the comedy. What a jumble of avarice, lewdness, dignity - and claret!" (C. Hartop, op. cit., p. 201). The couple had one child, a son named Charles (c. 1725-1802), who succeeded as 7th Earl of Mountrath on the death of his father in 1744. He died unmarried and without legitimate heir and so the title became extinct on his death.
THE EARL AND COUNTESS OF MOUNTRATH'S LAMERIE COMMISSIONS
These candlesticks form part of an exceptional group of silver made for Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of Mountrath (1689-1744) and his wife Diana Newport, daughter of Richard, 2nd Earl of Bradford, who he married in 1721. A brief survey of extant plate shows that the couple must have been one of Lamerie's leading clients in the late 1730's and early 1740's.
On the death of Algernon Coote the Mountrath plate passed to Diana, Countess of Mountrath
"I give unto my dear wife Diana, Countess of Mountrath all her jewells [sic] and all my things ... plate and household goods and... furniture pictures ... to and for her own use and benefit and I give unto my said dear wife all the pictures which came to me by or from her brother the late Countess [sic] of Bradford and all other pictures except the portraits of any person or persons of my own family to and for her own use and benefit and I also give unto my said dear wife the use but not the property or disposing power of my said family portraits for her life and after her decease I give said portraits to my son Charles Henry Lord Castle Coote... " (PROB 11/735).
It eventually entered the collection of the Earls of Portarlington by marriage, having been left by the Countess to Lady Caroline Milton.
"...all my silver and gilt plate which shall be remaining in my house in Grosvenor Square at the time of my decease and also my best diamond earrings my pearl .... and all other my jewells [sic] whatsoever and all my pictures and all the rest and residue of the household goods and furniture and linen which shall be remaining in my said house in Grosvenor Square at the time of my decease and also my sedan chair In trust to permit and suffer the said Caroline Lady Milton to hold and enjoy the same during her life for her separate use..." later adding "... and my will and desire is that the said plate, pictures, jewells [sic] furniture and linen may be delivered to the said Caroline Lady Milton as soon after my decease as it may by done with courtesy and convenience and that the said silver and gilt plate shall and may continue to be used by the said Caroline Lady Milton and her children respectively with the same arms and crests as are now engraved thereon without being erased or altered..." (PROB 11/923).
A group of silver and other chattels was sold by Henry John Reuben Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington (1822-1889) in 1881 and while no list of items sold has yet come to light it seems likely that the present candlesticks were included in the sale, though in any case they had certainly left the collection of the Earls of Portarlington by 1902 by which time they were with the Hon. William Frederick Barton Massey-Mainwaring. Other significant Lamerie from the 1881 sale entered the collection of Colonel A. Heywood-Lonsdale and was sold at Christie's, London, 27 June 1956. That group included:
Lot 124
A pair of cups and covers, 1742, weighing 241 oz. (with later liners) and now in the Dallas Museum of art, (Christie's, New York, 22 April 1993, lot 43 for one)
Lot 125
A pair of cake baskets, 1739, weighing 123 oz. (for one see C. Hartop, The Huguenot Legacy English Silver 1680-1760 from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection, London, 1996, p. 196-203)
Lot 126
A Ewer and Basin, 1742, weighing 441 oz. (T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Silver and Gold, cat. nos. 65 and 66).
Other items include an epergne of 1738 was sold by the Earl of Portalington at Christie's London, 17 December 1986 and a pair of salvers (T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles, 1988, pp. 256-257).
PAUL DE LAMERIE (1688-1751)
Paul de Lamerie was born in the Netherlands in April 1688. He was the only child of Paul Souchay de la Merie, an officer in the army of William III, and his wife, Constance le Roux. They moved to London in 1689, settling in Berwick Street in Soho.
Lamerie began his journey to become one of the greatest goldsmiths working in London in the 18th century in August 1703 with his apprenticeship with Pierre Platel, another member of the growing community of Huguenots living in London at the time. Platel, who was born in Lille, arrived in London by 1688 and was made a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths' by redemption by order of the Court of Aldermen in June 1699. Platel's work shows great skill, for example a set of four candlesticks formerly in the collection of Lord Harris of Peckham (Christie's, London, 25 November 2008, lot 44) and as such would have proven a very worthy teacher for Lamerie.
Having finished his apprenticeship Lamerie registered his first mark as a largeworker on 5 February 1713 and opened a workshop in Windmill Street, near Haymarket. Within a short period of time he was producing silver and gold to the highest standards, for example the octafoil salver offered here (lot 338) and the Sutherland Wine-Cistern, hallmarked in 1719, sold from the collection of the Duke of Sutherland (Christie's, London, 29 November 1961, lot 144) and now in the collection of the Minneapolis Museum of Art.
Though specifically describing the Sutherland cistern P. A. S. Phillips says "... is the earliest piece which I know of de Lamerie's highly decorative plate, showing exceptional imagination in form and ornaments, and exhibiting unexpected power in his early work" (P. A. S. Phillips, Paul de Lamerie His Life and Work, London, 1935, p. 76) but this imagination continued to be the distinguishing feature of his output, culminating in his production of plate designed in the latest Rococo fashion, for example, the highly accomplished candlesticks made for Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of Mountrath (lot 335).
Besides producing some of the greatest silver of the 18th century Lamerie also served as captain and, later, major in the Westminster volunteer association and served on committees at the Goldsmiths' Company. Though he never served as prime warden of the company he did supply them with a great deal of plate, perhaps most famously with a ewer and basin made in 1741.
As no ledgers survive it is not possible to say exactly how much plate he supplied during the course of his long career but he certainly supplied some of the greatest patrons of the arts in England, such as Sir Robert Walpole, for whom he made at least two inkstands, the Earl of Thanet and Baron Anson, for whom he produced entire dinner services, and the Duke of Bedford.
Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of Mountrath (1689-1744) was the third son of Charles Coote, 3th Earl of Mountrath (c.1655-1708) and his wife Lady Isabella Dormer, daughter of 2nd and last Earl of Carnarvon. He was educated at St Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1706. Coote was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Jamestown in 1715 and shortly after, following the death of his two brothers he succeeded to the earldom on 27 March 1720 and thus retired from the House, though he was appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland in 1723. He entered Parliament in the same year as member for Castle Rising in Norfolk, which he represented for ten years, later standing for Hedon in Yorkshire. Though Mountrath was initially declared defeated in the contest for Hedon he successfully petitioned the House of Commons and was declared elected after all. He sat as member for the borough until his death in 1744.
In 1721 he married Lady Diana Newport (d. 1766), daughter of The Earl of Bradford. Newport was described by Horace Walpole as being " as rich and as tipsy as Cacofogo in the comedy. What a jumble of avarice, lewdness, dignity - and claret!" (C. Hartop, op. cit., p. 201). The couple had one child, a son named Charles (c. 1725-1802), who succeeded as 7th Earl of Mountrath on the death of his father in 1744. He died unmarried and without legitimate heir and so the title became extinct on his death.
THE EARL AND COUNTESS OF MOUNTRATH'S LAMERIE COMMISSIONS
These candlesticks form part of an exceptional group of silver made for Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of Mountrath (1689-1744) and his wife Diana Newport, daughter of Richard, 2nd Earl of Bradford, who he married in 1721. A brief survey of extant plate shows that the couple must have been one of Lamerie's leading clients in the late 1730's and early 1740's.
On the death of Algernon Coote the Mountrath plate passed to Diana, Countess of Mountrath
"I give unto my dear wife Diana, Countess of Mountrath all her jewells [sic] and all my things ... plate and household goods and... furniture pictures ... to and for her own use and benefit and I give unto my said dear wife all the pictures which came to me by or from her brother the late Countess [sic] of Bradford and all other pictures except the portraits of any person or persons of my own family to and for her own use and benefit and I also give unto my said dear wife the use but not the property or disposing power of my said family portraits for her life and after her decease I give said portraits to my son Charles Henry Lord Castle Coote... " (PROB 11/735).
It eventually entered the collection of the Earls of Portarlington by marriage, having been left by the Countess to Lady Caroline Milton.
"...all my silver and gilt plate which shall be remaining in my house in Grosvenor Square at the time of my decease and also my best diamond earrings my pearl .... and all other my jewells [sic] whatsoever and all my pictures and all the rest and residue of the household goods and furniture and linen which shall be remaining in my said house in Grosvenor Square at the time of my decease and also my sedan chair In trust to permit and suffer the said Caroline Lady Milton to hold and enjoy the same during her life for her separate use..." later adding "... and my will and desire is that the said plate, pictures, jewells [sic] furniture and linen may be delivered to the said Caroline Lady Milton as soon after my decease as it may by done with courtesy and convenience and that the said silver and gilt plate shall and may continue to be used by the said Caroline Lady Milton and her children respectively with the same arms and crests as are now engraved thereon without being erased or altered..." (PROB 11/923).
A group of silver and other chattels was sold by Henry John Reuben Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington (1822-1889) in 1881 and while no list of items sold has yet come to light it seems likely that the present candlesticks were included in the sale, though in any case they had certainly left the collection of the Earls of Portarlington by 1902 by which time they were with the Hon. William Frederick Barton Massey-Mainwaring. Other significant Lamerie from the 1881 sale entered the collection of Colonel A. Heywood-Lonsdale and was sold at Christie's, London, 27 June 1956. That group included:
Lot 124
A pair of cups and covers, 1742, weighing 241 oz. (with later liners) and now in the Dallas Museum of art, (Christie's, New York, 22 April 1993, lot 43 for one)
Lot 125
A pair of cake baskets, 1739, weighing 123 oz. (for one see C. Hartop, The Huguenot Legacy English Silver 1680-1760 from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection, London, 1996, p. 196-203)
Lot 126
A Ewer and Basin, 1742, weighing 441 oz. (T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Silver and Gold, cat. nos. 65 and 66).
Other items include an epergne of 1738 was sold by the Earl of Portalington at Christie's London, 17 December 1986 and a pair of salvers (T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles, 1988, pp. 256-257).
PAUL DE LAMERIE (1688-1751)
Paul de Lamerie was born in the Netherlands in April 1688. He was the only child of Paul Souchay de la Merie, an officer in the army of William III, and his wife, Constance le Roux. They moved to London in 1689, settling in Berwick Street in Soho.
Lamerie began his journey to become one of the greatest goldsmiths working in London in the 18th century in August 1703 with his apprenticeship with Pierre Platel, another member of the growing community of Huguenots living in London at the time. Platel, who was born in Lille, arrived in London by 1688 and was made a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths' by redemption by order of the Court of Aldermen in June 1699. Platel's work shows great skill, for example a set of four candlesticks formerly in the collection of Lord Harris of Peckham (Christie's, London, 25 November 2008, lot 44) and as such would have proven a very worthy teacher for Lamerie.
Having finished his apprenticeship Lamerie registered his first mark as a largeworker on 5 February 1713 and opened a workshop in Windmill Street, near Haymarket. Within a short period of time he was producing silver and gold to the highest standards, for example the octafoil salver offered here (lot 338) and the Sutherland Wine-Cistern, hallmarked in 1719, sold from the collection of the Duke of Sutherland (Christie's, London, 29 November 1961, lot 144) and now in the collection of the Minneapolis Museum of Art.
Though specifically describing the Sutherland cistern P. A. S. Phillips says "... is the earliest piece which I know of de Lamerie's highly decorative plate, showing exceptional imagination in form and ornaments, and exhibiting unexpected power in his early work" (P. A. S. Phillips, Paul de Lamerie His Life and Work, London, 1935, p. 76) but this imagination continued to be the distinguishing feature of his output, culminating in his production of plate designed in the latest Rococo fashion, for example, the highly accomplished candlesticks made for Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of Mountrath (lot 335).
Besides producing some of the greatest silver of the 18th century Lamerie also served as captain and, later, major in the Westminster volunteer association and served on committees at the Goldsmiths' Company. Though he never served as prime warden of the company he did supply them with a great deal of plate, perhaps most famously with a ewer and basin made in 1741.
As no ledgers survive it is not possible to say exactly how much plate he supplied during the course of his long career but he certainly supplied some of the greatest patrons of the arts in England, such as Sir Robert Walpole, for whom he made at least two inkstands, the Earl of Thanet and Baron Anson, for whom he produced entire dinner services, and the Duke of Bedford.