Lot 289
289
A VICTORIAN SILVER COMMEMORATIVE WEDDING CASKET
A VICTORIAN SILVER COMMEMORATIVE WEDDING CASKET

MAKER'S MARK OF JOHN SAMUEL HUNT, LONDON, 1860

Details
A VICTORIAN SILVER COMMEMORATIVE WEDDING CASKET
Maker's mark of John Samuel Hunt, London, 1860
Rectangular, on four openwork feet of trailing ivy climbing along the corners, each side set with rectangular panels with cut corners, the front engraved with a view of a castle, the sides with floral sprays, the back with floral spray within a laurel wreath, the hinged cover engraved on rim with tied foliate bands and floral swags, the center later set with a commemorative medallion enclosed in vine wreath with two coats-of-arms below coronets and helm and with mottoes, also with date 21Mar 1871, the underside of medallion with two portraits in profile of H. R. H. Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne, the interior lined, marked under base and cover
5in. (12.5cm.) high; gross weight 46oz. 10dwt. (1452gr.)

Lot Essay

The wedding between Princess Louise, sixth child of Queen Victoria, and the Marquis of Lorne, later Duke of Argyll, took place with much pomp on March 21, 1871, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. Although not since 1515 when Henry VIII's sister married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, had a monarch approved of the marriage of a princess to a subject, Queen Victoria had readily consented to the union. Foreign alliances were ruled out for Princess Louise to avoid further divided loyalties in case of European political conflicts which caused such grief and stress to her sister Victoria, the Crown Princess of Prussia. On a more practical level, Queen Victoria seemed to have been quite upset at the inconvenience caused by foreign delegations: "Nothing is more unpopular here and more uncomfortable for me and everyone than the long residence of our married daughters from abroad in my house, with the quantities of foreigners they bring with them, and the foreign view they entertain on all subjects." Unfortunately, the Queen's desire to infuse new blood into the royal family was unfulfilled as Princess Louise remained childless.