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Lot Essay
The crest and coronet is that of the Earls Cathart.
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906) was the granddaughter of Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), founder of the London banking firm Coutts & Co., and his first wife Susan Starkie (d. 1815).
Thomas Coutts's second wife was the celebrated Harriot Mellon (c. 1775-1837), later Duchess of St. Albans, who in 1837 left the bulk of her estate, including her enormous silver collection, to her step-granddaughter Angela. Contemporary newspaper accounts gleefully pointed out that this fortune was the equivalent to thirteen tons of gold, or if in sovereigns it would stretch over twenty-four miles and take ten weeks to count.
Angela Burdett-Coutts used her wealth to amass a large art collection and to fund numerous philanthropic schemes for which she was created a Baroness by Queen Victoria in 1871. Baroness Burdett-Coutts died on December 30, 1906 and her body lay in state for two days, during which time 30,000 people paid their last respects. She was buried in Westminster Abbey on January 5, 1906. After her death, the bulk of the Duchess's silver remained in storage until 1914 when it was sold by Christie's in a number of sales held through the 1920s.
These dessert stands form part of an extravagant silver-gilt dessert service dating to 1806 and 1810 consisting of six oval baskets and four circular baskets, which sold as part of the Coutts Heirlooms in 1914. The suite corresponds to the Inventory of Plate Belonging to Her Grace the Duchess of St. Albans, prepared by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, 21st May 1829. Most of the service is listed part of the Best Service, Chest No. 11.
A pair of baskets of the same model by Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith, 1805 for Rundell, Bridge and Rundell are illustrated in Christopher Hartop, Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell & Bridge, 1797-1843, 2005, p. 149, no. 13.
See lot 122 for a cheese cradle from the Duchess of St. Albans Collection.
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906) was the granddaughter of Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), founder of the London banking firm Coutts & Co., and his first wife Susan Starkie (d. 1815).
Thomas Coutts's second wife was the celebrated Harriot Mellon (c. 1775-1837), later Duchess of St. Albans, who in 1837 left the bulk of her estate, including her enormous silver collection, to her step-granddaughter Angela. Contemporary newspaper accounts gleefully pointed out that this fortune was the equivalent to thirteen tons of gold, or if in sovereigns it would stretch over twenty-four miles and take ten weeks to count.
Angela Burdett-Coutts used her wealth to amass a large art collection and to fund numerous philanthropic schemes for which she was created a Baroness by Queen Victoria in 1871. Baroness Burdett-Coutts died on December 30, 1906 and her body lay in state for two days, during which time 30,000 people paid their last respects. She was buried in Westminster Abbey on January 5, 1906. After her death, the bulk of the Duchess's silver remained in storage until 1914 when it was sold by Christie's in a number of sales held through the 1920s.
These dessert stands form part of an extravagant silver-gilt dessert service dating to 1806 and 1810 consisting of six oval baskets and four circular baskets, which sold as part of the Coutts Heirlooms in 1914. The suite corresponds to the Inventory of Plate Belonging to Her Grace the Duchess of St. Albans, prepared by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, 21st May 1829. Most of the service is listed part of the Best Service, Chest No. 11.
A pair of baskets of the same model by Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith, 1805 for Rundell, Bridge and Rundell are illustrated in Christopher Hartop, Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell & Bridge, 1797-1843, 2005, p. 149, no. 13.
See lot 122 for a cheese cradle from the Duchess of St. Albans Collection.