A ROYAL ARCHERY PRIZE: A GEORGE III SILVER TEA TRAY

MARK OF WILLIAM BENNETT, LONDON, 1809, THE ENGRAVING SIGNED D. GAVIN

Details

A ROYAL ARCHERY PRIZE: A GEORGE III SILVER TEA TRAY
MARK OF WILLIAM BENNETT, LONDON, 1809, THE ENGRAVING SIGNED D. GAVIN
Shaped rectangular with a gadrooned border, and leaf-capped gadrooned handles, the field engraved with the Royal Arms of George III as King of Scotland, above an inscription, and the Order of the Thistle, and a coat-of-arms, marked on reverse, the engraving signed D. Gavin, Sct. Parliament Sqr.
25 in. (65.7 cm.) long over handles; 103 oz. (3203 gr.)
The engraved inscription reads THE KING'S PRIZE TO THE Royal Company of Scottish Archers Gained by Thomas Charles Hope M.D. of P.

Provenance

Sotheby's, New York, 21 October 1997, lot 217

Lot Essay

The arms are those of Hope as borne by Thomas Charles Hope (1766-1844).
Thomas Hope was an acclaimed professor of chemistry at Edinburgh University, where he researched the nature of strontium and the maximum density point of water.

This tray was awarded as the annual King's Prize. Dr. Hope won King's Prizes in 1800, 1806, and 1807. This tray, awarded by the Royal Company of Archers, was for The Goose Shoot. The target was a goose's eye, the bird being buried in the ground up to its neck.

The tray also identifies an unrecorded engraver, D. Gavin, who worked on Parliament Square in Edinburgh.

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