MARK OF PIERRE GILLOIS, LONDON, 1768

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE III SILVER-GILT TEA CADDIES
MARK OF PIERRE GILLOIS, LONDON, 1768
Each oblong, with straight sides and hinged covers, engraved overall with a foliate trellis enclosing three designs of flowers, engraved on covers with initial W below baron's coronet, marked underneath and in covers
4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm.) high
29 oz. 19 dwt. (932 gr.)

Provenance

A Chicago Estate; Christie's, New York, 19 April 1990, lot 266.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 16 April 1997, lot 212.

Literature

A. Stevens, K. Richenburg and G. Walking ed. The Story of British Tea Chests and Caddies, Woodbridge, 2022, p. 310, fig. 17.21

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Harry Williams-Bulkeley International Head of Silver Department

hwilliams-bulkeley@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2666

Lot Essay

The plain oblong form of these caddies, by the specialist caddy maker Pierre Gillois, is inspired by the wooden tea chests in which the tea was transported from China. As Jeanne Sloane observes in her chapter on silver tea caddies in Stevens, Richenburg and Walkling, op. cit., p. 310, the beautifully engraved floral trellis work is likely to have been executed by a specialist engraver, working from designs for contemporary textiles used by the thriving London Spitalfields silk industry. This is illustrated by the set of three caddies by Edward Wakelin of 1758, sold Christie's, New York, 23 March 2021, lot 64, which are engraved with the same floral trellis. An identical caddy by Gillois of the same year, but with a foliage final, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Inv. no. M.320-1962.

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