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Lot Essay
The arms are those of Sandys, probably for Sir Edwin Sandys (1561-1629), second son of zealous Protestant reformer Archbishop Edwin Sandys by his second wife, Cicely, sister of Sir Thomas Wilford.
Sir Edwin Sandys was a prominent Jacobean statesman and member of Parliament. He was actively involved in the founding of the New World colony of Jamestown in 1607 and elected as its Treasurer in 1619. Unfortunately, Sandys was suspected of "harbouring designs to establish a republican and puritan state in America." King James viewed the colony as a "seminary for a seditious parliament," and demanded a new treasurer be chosen, declaring "Choose the devil if you will, but not Sir Edwin Sandys." Sandys was briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London before the Crown assumed control of the government of the colony in 1624. The precedents of government established by Sandys became the model for other American colonies. Sandys continued his parlimentary career and devoted his last years to the affairs of the East India Company. (Theodore K. Rabb, Jacobean Gentleman, Sir Edwin Sandys, 1998; Dictionary of National Biography)
It is possible that the salt descended through the Ponsonby family from Henry Ponsonby who married Dorothy Sandys in 1605. Dorothy Sandys, daughter of Henry Sandys of Rottington (1562-1614), was a relation of Edwin Sandys. The London Sandys probably kept in contact with their Cumberland relations; the Earl of Cumberland was the godparent of Edwin Sandys's youngest sibling.
The most striking feature of the salt is the silver-gilt figure encased in rock crystal that forms the stem. It is quite likely that the enclosed figure is from an earlier Tudor period salt and preserved in this unusual fashion due to the personal significance it held for the Sandys family. The enclosed figure is virtually identical to figural finials on late-sixteenth century standing salts. A standing salt with a related finial formed as a boy holding a shield and a staff, dated London 1554, is at Corpus Christi College in Oxford and is illustrated in Jackson, An Illustrated History of English Plate, vol. 2, p. 546. Several other examples with similar figural finials and dating between 1554 and 1577 are also illustrated in the same volume. The extant examples place both the Sandys's silver-gilt figure and the rock crystal stem to this same 20-year period. A silver-gilt salt, dating to 1577-78, with rock-crystal stem enclosing a figure sold at Christie's, London, December 11, 1902, lot 62 and is illustrated in Jackson, vol. 2, p. 551. The incorporation of the sixteenth-century rock-crystal stem and silver-gilt finial in a later object, engraved "Heir Loome," preserved for the Sandys's family a keepsake of an illustrious ancestor.
SUPP IMAGE TEXT:
Sir Edwin Sandys, Courtesy Graythwaite Hall, Mr. Miles Sandys
SUPP IMAGE TEXT
Detail of figure with Sandys coat-of-arms, lot 276
Sir Edwin Sandys was a prominent Jacobean statesman and member of Parliament. He was actively involved in the founding of the New World colony of Jamestown in 1607 and elected as its Treasurer in 1619. Unfortunately, Sandys was suspected of "harbouring designs to establish a republican and puritan state in America." King James viewed the colony as a "seminary for a seditious parliament," and demanded a new treasurer be chosen, declaring "Choose the devil if you will, but not Sir Edwin Sandys." Sandys was briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London before the Crown assumed control of the government of the colony in 1624. The precedents of government established by Sandys became the model for other American colonies. Sandys continued his parlimentary career and devoted his last years to the affairs of the East India Company. (Theodore K. Rabb, Jacobean Gentleman, Sir Edwin Sandys, 1998; Dictionary of National Biography)
It is possible that the salt descended through the Ponsonby family from Henry Ponsonby who married Dorothy Sandys in 1605. Dorothy Sandys, daughter of Henry Sandys of Rottington (1562-1614), was a relation of Edwin Sandys. The London Sandys probably kept in contact with their Cumberland relations; the Earl of Cumberland was the godparent of Edwin Sandys's youngest sibling.
The most striking feature of the salt is the silver-gilt figure encased in rock crystal that forms the stem. It is quite likely that the enclosed figure is from an earlier Tudor period salt and preserved in this unusual fashion due to the personal significance it held for the Sandys family. The enclosed figure is virtually identical to figural finials on late-sixteenth century standing salts. A standing salt with a related finial formed as a boy holding a shield and a staff, dated London 1554, is at Corpus Christi College in Oxford and is illustrated in Jackson, An Illustrated History of English Plate, vol. 2, p. 546. Several other examples with similar figural finials and dating between 1554 and 1577 are also illustrated in the same volume. The extant examples place both the Sandys's silver-gilt figure and the rock crystal stem to this same 20-year period. A silver-gilt salt, dating to 1577-78, with rock-crystal stem enclosing a figure sold at Christie's, London, December 11, 1902, lot 62 and is illustrated in Jackson, vol. 2, p. 551. The incorporation of the sixteenth-century rock-crystal stem and silver-gilt finial in a later object, engraved "Heir Loome," preserved for the Sandys's family a keepsake of an illustrious ancestor.
SUPP IMAGE TEXT:
Sir Edwin Sandys, Courtesy Graythwaite Hall, Mr. Miles Sandys
SUPP IMAGE TEXT
Detail of figure with Sandys coat-of-arms, lot 276