拍品專文
The cypher and coronet are those of Robert Henry Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke and 9th Earl of Montgomery, born in 1791. He married in 1814 in the Butera Palace, Palermo, Ottavia Spinelli, the newly-widowed wife of the Prince of Butera and daughter of the Duke of Laurino. Before the death of the Prince, the young Lord Herbert had been the Princess's cavaliere servente. His father attempted to have the marriage dissolved without success but succeeded in persuading the Sicilian authorities to separate the parties. Accordingly Lord Herbert was imprisoned in a fortress and his wife in a convent. Herbert managed to escape, however, to Genoa and returned to England where his father persuaded him to abandon the Princess. A suit for the restitution of conjugal rights was brought by her in the English courts in 1819 and she was awarded 800 p.a. which is said was later increased to 5,000, but Lord Herbert and the Princess never came together again. (Phillimore, Cases in Ecclesiastical Courts, vol. III, pp. 58-66)
Herbert succeeded to the Earldom on the death of his father in 1827 and took his seat in the House of Lords in 1833. In 1837 he was living in Paris, where Lord Malmesbury wrote of him, " Lord Pembroke lives in great state in Paris, and is as famous for his cook as for his horses. He is a very handsome man" (Malmesbury, Memoirs of an ex-Minister, vol. I, p. 78). Lord Pembroke died at Paris in 1862 at the age of 70 and was buried at Pere-la-Chaise (Gentleman's Magazine, 1862, part 1, p.l 78; Complete Peerage)
This dish forms part of an extensive service of plate commissioned by the 12th Earl of Pembroke from Paul Storr between 1827 and 1837. Perhaps the most impressive piece is the fantastical candelabrum surmounted by the Pembroke gryphon, over 40 inches tall, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (bequest of Robert L. Joseph, 1959). Other items include a soup tureen of 1835, formerly in the Morrie Moss Collection, a basket of 1836 in the Gans Collection, Richmond Museum, Virginia, a magnificent sideboard dish of 1828, offered in these Rooms, October 30, 1991, lot 277, an extensive breakfast set, 1829-1836, sold by Sotheby's, London, March 10, 1977, lot 201, a pair of sauceboats and a cruet stand of 1835, sold in these Rooms, October 27, 1992, lots 203 and 204 respectively, and two pairs of gilt salt cellars of 1835, one sold in these Rooms April 19, 1990, lot 362 and another sold October 21, 1993, lot 412.
Herbert succeeded to the Earldom on the death of his father in 1827 and took his seat in the House of Lords in 1833. In 1837 he was living in Paris, where Lord Malmesbury wrote of him, " Lord Pembroke lives in great state in Paris, and is as famous for his cook as for his horses. He is a very handsome man" (Malmesbury, Memoirs of an ex-Minister, vol. I, p. 78). Lord Pembroke died at Paris in 1862 at the age of 70 and was buried at Pere-la-Chaise (Gentleman's Magazine, 1862, part 1, p.l 78; Complete Peerage)
This dish forms part of an extensive service of plate commissioned by the 12th Earl of Pembroke from Paul Storr between 1827 and 1837. Perhaps the most impressive piece is the fantastical candelabrum surmounted by the Pembroke gryphon, over 40 inches tall, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (bequest of Robert L. Joseph, 1959). Other items include a soup tureen of 1835, formerly in the Morrie Moss Collection, a basket of 1836 in the Gans Collection, Richmond Museum, Virginia, a magnificent sideboard dish of 1828, offered in these Rooms, October 30, 1991, lot 277, an extensive breakfast set, 1829-1836, sold by Sotheby's, London, March 10, 1977, lot 201, a pair of sauceboats and a cruet stand of 1835, sold in these Rooms, October 27, 1992, lots 203 and 204 respectively, and two pairs of gilt salt cellars of 1835, one sold in these Rooms April 19, 1990, lot 362 and another sold October 21, 1993, lot 412.