Lot Essay
By the second half of the nineteenth century the English silver toilet service had become a rare feature in a goldsmith's output. Nevertheless a small number of extremely grand and extensive services survive from this period such as Queen Caroline Matilde of Denmark's service by Thomas Heming, London, 1766, Kunstindustrie, Copenhagen, the Williams-Wynne toilet service also by Thomas Heming, 1768, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff and the Queen Sophia Magdalena of Sweden's service, Livrustkammaren, Stockholm, by Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp, 1779. The Royal Swedish service differs from the previous rococo examples with it's beautifully controlled neo-classical design. The covers of the boxes, each inset with a classical medallion adapted from those designed by Tassie within borders of finely executed palm-leaves, ram's masks, ribbon-tied husk swags and anthemion ornament. This Royal service was the inspiration for an equally magnificent service made not for a Queen but for an heiress of one of the richest men of his time. Sarah Anne, Countess of Westmorland (d.1793), daughter of Sir Robert Child, the banker, had eloped with John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland (d.1841) to Gretna Green in 1782. In celebration of the solemnation of the marriage at Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, in May of that year, the Countess of Westmorland commissioned a magnificent silver-gilt toilet service, with Etruscan-ribbon bands and medallioned bas-reliefs recalling ancient sacrifices at Love's altar.
The service followed the elegant neo-classical design which Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp had employed some four years earlier. The majority of the service passed into the collection of Cornelia, Countess of Craven. On her death it was sold at auction in 1961 and more recently re-offered in these Rooms, 23 May 1990, lot 126. Her ewer and basin, likewise manufactured by Messrs. Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp of Westmorland Buildings, London, was recently presented by Lord Jersey for display at Osterley Park House, the family home in Middlesex, discussed T. Schroder, The Apollo, The Silver at Osterley, 5th April 1995, p.25. However, its mirror, the centrepiece of the Countess's dressing-table display, has remained untraced. This beribboned medallion dressing-glass, conceived in the French/antique manner with its Etruscan-pearled and Grecian palm-flowered frame emerging from Roman foliage closely related to the side border on the Westmorland boxes, bears the identical maker's mark and date letter. Therefore could this mirror be the missing centrepiece of the toilet service.
The service followed the elegant neo-classical design which Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp had employed some four years earlier. The majority of the service passed into the collection of Cornelia, Countess of Craven. On her death it was sold at auction in 1961 and more recently re-offered in these Rooms, 23 May 1990, lot 126. Her ewer and basin, likewise manufactured by Messrs. Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp of Westmorland Buildings, London, was recently presented by Lord Jersey for display at Osterley Park House, the family home in Middlesex, discussed T. Schroder, The Apollo, The Silver at Osterley, 5th April 1995, p.25. However, its mirror, the centrepiece of the Countess's dressing-table display, has remained untraced. This beribboned medallion dressing-glass, conceived in the French/antique manner with its Etruscan-pearled and Grecian palm-flowered frame emerging from Roman foliage closely related to the side border on the Westmorland boxes, bears the identical maker's mark and date letter. Therefore could this mirror be the missing centrepiece of the toilet service.