UNMARKED, POSSIBLY BY PAUL DE LAMERIE, MID 18TH CENTURY

A possible attribution to the great silversmith Paul de Lamerie is based upon the existence of variations of this distinctive 'picturesque' Rococo model which were supplied by de Lamerie from about 1731 until the late 1740s. The form and decoration closely follow designs by Jean Bèrain I (1640-1711) (see Jean Bèrain, Reproduction compléte de l'oeuvre de Jean Bèrain, époque Louis XIV, Paris, Armand Guérinet, 1929?, pl.92). Timothy Schroeder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, 1988, p.204-206 cites a pair of closely similar form by de Lamerie for Sir Robert Walpole of 1731 and a further set of four by de Lamerie, dated 1737/8, are cited in Beth Carver Wees, English Irish & Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, New York, no.375, p.508. Other examples of this form derived from the Bèrain pattern were sold Christie's, London, 12 May 1993, lot 145, by John White, circa 1735, as well as lot 146, by Robert Tyrill, of 1746. The bell, lot 311 in the present sale may also be attributed to de Lamerie as its decoration is closely related to that of the candlesticks.