Lot Essay
The golden centrepiece for fruit and sweet-meats, which is designed in the Louis XV picturesque manner, celebrates Peace and Plenty and recalls the Roman quotation 'Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus' (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus will starve). It comprises a triumphal vine-trellised baldachino crowned by a flower-basket and enclosing a grape-clustered basket recalling Pomona, goddess of cultivation and with removable branches for tazzae each formed as large mulberry leaf, whose feet are provided by silk-worms and snails. The fusion of mulberries with vines sacred to Bacchus would also recall the poem which according to Virgil was sung by the rural deity Silenus when the Sylvian fauns, assisted by the water-nymph Aegle, entwined him with vines and mulberries (Virgil's 'The Song of Silenus', in the sixth Eclogue). They also support the elliptic nef-shaped basket, whose bowl is fluted like a wine-krater vase, enriched with fret of arabesque foliage and flowered mosaics like a Venus-shell basket executed by Paul de Lamerie in 1747 (London, Goldsmiths' Hall, Paul de Lamerie, London, 1990, no 113).
The basic form of the epergne centrepiece corresponds to that commissioned from George Wickes by James, 1st Earl of Kildare (1722-1773), at the time of his marriage in 1746, 'The Glory of the Goldsmith', Exhibtion Catalogue, London, 1989, no. 94, which is in turn derived from a 'surtoute' designed by William Kent and published in John Vardy's Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr William Kent, 1744, pl. 27. This was commissioned by Frederick, Prince of Wales from George Wickes in 1745 and it is to this prototype that Bute turns when commissioning this epergne. A friend of the Prince, whom he had served as Lord of the Bedchamber, Bute would have known Wickes' centrepiece. The Kildare and Prince of Wales centrepieces are closely related, with the grotto-like canopy applied with vine tendrils and leaves in a restrained manner. The Bute centrepiece and that commissioned by King George III from Heming in 1761, possibly part of the delivery covered by the payment on 11 July 1761 from the Seperate Account, are both more exuberant in the use of vine leaves on the canopy. On each arms are engraved on large pendant leaves which extend beyond the rim of the canopy. The Heming centrepiece of 1761 is in the Royal Collection and is illustrated in E. A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, London, 1911, pl. 45.
Heming improved on the Vardy design, applying the lighter touch of the rococo with finer vine tendrils, lighter supports and six additional sweetmeat dishes. The Prince of Wales centrepiece was altered in the 19th century when in 1829 the casters were moved, the feet changed and other additions made. Further alterations were done in 1847 when large swags were inserted between the later feet (J. F. Hayward, 'A 'Surtoute' designed by William Kent', The Connoisseu, March 1959, p. 82-83. Although originally gilded - the bill for gilding is recorded in the Wickes Ledgers - '3s for gilding', the Wickes epergne was undoubtedly re-gilded in the 19th century when the additions were made. The Bute epergne was almost certainly originally gilded, as was the Royal epergne of 1761, although it was also possibly re-gilded in the 19th century. The importance of the Bute centrepiece lies in its unaltered state providing the prototype for the Royal epergne of George III. Unlike the Prince of Wales' 'surtoute' it survived 19th century improvements and the Kildare example it retains its central basket.
The basic form of the epergne centrepiece corresponds to that commissioned from George Wickes by James, 1st Earl of Kildare (1722-1773), at the time of his marriage in 1746, 'The Glory of the Goldsmith', Exhibtion Catalogue, London, 1989, no. 94, which is in turn derived from a 'surtoute' designed by William Kent and published in John Vardy's Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr William Kent, 1744, pl. 27. This was commissioned by Frederick, Prince of Wales from George Wickes in 1745 and it is to this prototype that Bute turns when commissioning this epergne. A friend of the Prince, whom he had served as Lord of the Bedchamber, Bute would have known Wickes' centrepiece. The Kildare and Prince of Wales centrepieces are closely related, with the grotto-like canopy applied with vine tendrils and leaves in a restrained manner. The Bute centrepiece and that commissioned by King George III from Heming in 1761, possibly part of the delivery covered by the payment on 11 July 1761 from the Seperate Account, are both more exuberant in the use of vine leaves on the canopy. On each arms are engraved on large pendant leaves which extend beyond the rim of the canopy. The Heming centrepiece of 1761 is in the Royal Collection and is illustrated in E. A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, London, 1911, pl. 45.
Heming improved on the Vardy design, applying the lighter touch of the rococo with finer vine tendrils, lighter supports and six additional sweetmeat dishes. The Prince of Wales centrepiece was altered in the 19th century when in 1829 the casters were moved, the feet changed and other additions made. Further alterations were done in 1847 when large swags were inserted between the later feet (J. F. Hayward, 'A 'Surtoute' designed by William Kent', The Connoisseu, March 1959, p. 82-83. Although originally gilded - the bill for gilding is recorded in the Wickes Ledgers - '3s for gilding', the Wickes epergne was undoubtedly re-gilded in the 19th century when the additions were made. The Bute epergne was almost certainly originally gilded, as was the Royal epergne of 1761, although it was also possibly re-gilded in the 19th century. The importance of the Bute centrepiece lies in its unaltered state providing the prototype for the Royal epergne of George III. Unlike the Prince of Wales' 'surtoute' it survived 19th century improvements and the Kildare example it retains its central basket.