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Lot Essay
Commissioned by the British East India Co. for Prime Minister William Pitt, just made Earl of Chatham, this service was brought home in 1772 by Company agent W.B. Blake. Pitt's wife had earlier been created a baroness. About 1950 much of the service was bought by a Long Island collector, who then sold it at Sotheby's New York in 1974. A barber's bowl in the Mottahedeh collection is illustrated by J. Ayers and D. Howard, op. cit., no. 430, who tell the story of this great service.