MARK OF PAUL DE LAMERIE, LONDON, 1734

The arms are those of De Salis impaling those of Fane. Jerome, Count De Salis of Slogio (1709-1794), was naturalized as a British subject in 1730. His father, Peter De Salis, served as envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary of Emperor Joseph I of Germany at the court of Queen Anne, and was created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1748. In January 1735, Jerome married Mary, the sister and heiress to Charles, Viscount Fane and Baron of Loughguyre. When Viscount Fane died without issue, the estates devolved on the De Salis family.

This coffee pot, bearing the impaled arms of the two families, was almost certainly ordered as a result of the marriage in 1735 and forms part of a group of silver made for the De Salis family. Other Lamerie silver bearing these arms includes a pair of sauceboats, 1734, now in the Al-Tajir Collection and illustrated in The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, p. 98, no. 69; a set of six table candlesticks, 1733/34 sold Christie's, London, March 31, 1998, lot 105 and a circular kettle with triangular tray, sold from the collection of the Count De Salis, Sotheby's, London, February 6-20, 1986, lot 175.

Photo caption:
Mary Fane, 2nd Countess De Salis (d. 1784)
Jerome, 2nd Count De Salis (1709-94)