ATTRIBUTED TO DAVID WILLAUME II, LONDON, CIRCA 1730

A number of similar cream jugs are recorded, the majority of which are unmarked, however, a small number of the marked examples exist, which are struck with the mark of David Willaume II. One was sold Christie's, New York, 27 October 1992, lot 375. A fully marked jug by David Willaume, London, 1719 in the is the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clarke Art Institute illustrated in Beth Carver Wees's catalogue, The English, Irish and Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clarke Art Institute, New York, 1997, pp. 365-366, no. 253. Further unmarked examples include one sold by Christie's, London, 27 April 1983 and three sold from the collection of the late Hilmar Reksten, Christie's, London, 22 May 1991, lots 90-92. One by John Liger is fully marked for London, 1727 and was sold from the collection of the late Benjamin J. Edwards III, Christie's, New York, 19 October 2012, lot 234.

Carver Wees notes op. cit. that Phillipa Glanville has suggested a possible source for the design in the work of the Dutch Mannerist silversmith Adam van Vianen (1568-1627) as shown by the engraving of his work by Theodor van Kessel, published by his son Christiaan van Vianen in Modelles artificiels, de divers vaisseaux d'argent Constighe Modellen, van verscheijden silvere Vasen, Utrecht, c.1650; in particular plate 10 for the design of the handle and plate 47 for the overall form of a shell shaped vessel supported by a crouching figure.