A FINE SET OF THREE GEORGE III SILVER-GILT DESSERT BASKETS

MAKER'S MARK OF DIGBY SCOTT AND BENJAMIN SMITH, LONDON, 1805

Details
A FINE SET OF THREE GEORGE III SILVER-GILT DESSERT BASKETS
Maker's mark of Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith, London, 1805
Each of oval form, on four claw feet headed by sphinge-joins, the wirework sides with applied vine leaves and grapes, with gadrooned rims, the centers engraved with a crest and baron's coronet, ruby glass liners, marked under bases, with scratchweights, also stamped RUNDELL BRIDGE ET RUNDELL AURIFICE REGIS ET PRINCIPIS WALLIAE LONDINI FECERUNT
The largest 13in. (33.5cm.) long; 152oz. 10dwt. (4753gr.) (3)

Lot Essay

The crest and coronet are those of Thomas, 3rd Baron Foley (1780-1833). He married Cecilia Olivia Geraldine, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Leinster, in 1806. A Whig, he served as Lord Lieutenant of Worcester and Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners. From 1805-1807, he was 3rd Master of the Quorn Hunt.

Four identical dessert baskets were in the Earl of Harewood's service of display plate by Paul Storr, sold in the sale of Magnificent Regency Gilt Banqueting Plate: The Property of the Earl of Harewood, Christie's, London, June 30, 1965, lots 99 and 100. The baskets, dated 1815, are illustrated in Michael Clayton, The Collector's Dictionary of the Silver and Gold of Great Britain, rev. ed. 1985, pp. 338-339. A single basket from the same set is illustrated in N.M. Penzer, Paul Storr, 1954, pl. LVII, p. 192.