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Lot Essay
The arms are those of Manners impaling Howard for John Henry, 5th Duke of Rutland (1778-1857). The 5th Duke was Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Recorder of Cambridge, Grantham and Scarborough and served as a Trustee of the British Museum from 1815-57. In 1799 he married Elizabeth, fifth daughter of Frederick, 5th Earl of Carlisle. He was described in the Derbyshire Advertiser as "a man who would in any circumstances have been an ornament to humanity. There was that in him which would have given dignity to the most humble, as it threw a halo round the very lofty position to which, in the order of Providence, he was born. He respected himself, but scorned no one; and all who knew him justly loved him. Intense in his affections and firm in his principles, he was in his domestic relations a model, in his friendships unfaltering, and in his patriotism, if not unequalled, at least unsurpassed, by any nobleman of his day." Rutland's Belvoir Castle was subject to a disastrous fire in October 1816, in which losses were estimated conservatively at L120,000 (Complete Peerage).
This set of four entre dishes, part of Belvoir Castle's 'Marine Service', descended to the 10th Duke of Rutland and sold at Christie's, London, January 26, 1944. Originally there were twelve entre dishes in the Rutland service (four oblong, four square, four circular), all made by Benjamin Smith in 1807. The dishes each incorporate a frieze of displayed peacocks, the Duke's crest. The remainder of the service, which is inspired by the 'Marine Service' produced for Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-51) by Paul Crespin and Nicholas Sprimont, consists of four sauceboats and ladles, four shell sweetmeat dishes, four shell salt cellars and a centerpiece. These pieces post-date the Rutland entre dishes, as they were produced in 1820 and 1821 by Robert Hennell and J. Young (Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England exh. cat., 1984, pp. 113-14; E. A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, 1911, pls. XXXVI, L, LI, pp. 72, 98, 100).
This set of four entre dishes, part of Belvoir Castle's 'Marine Service', descended to the 10th Duke of Rutland and sold at Christie's, London, January 26, 1944. Originally there were twelve entre dishes in the Rutland service (four oblong, four square, four circular), all made by Benjamin Smith in 1807. The dishes each incorporate a frieze of displayed peacocks, the Duke's crest. The remainder of the service, which is inspired by the 'Marine Service' produced for Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-51) by Paul Crespin and Nicholas Sprimont, consists of four sauceboats and ladles, four shell sweetmeat dishes, four shell salt cellars and a centerpiece. These pieces post-date the Rutland entre dishes, as they were produced in 1820 and 1821 by Robert Hennell and J. Young (Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England exh. cat., 1984, pp. 113-14; E. A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, 1911, pls. XXXVI, L, LI, pp. 72, 98, 100).