Details
A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER MEAT DISHES
STERLING STANDARD, LONDON, 1748, MAKER'S MARK OF PAUL DE LAMERIE (HARE. NO. 5)
Of shaped oval form, the rims applied with a band of rosettes with scroll, blossom and rocaille motifs at intervals, the borders engraved twice with a crest, marked on reverses, numbered 10 and 11 and with scratch weights 26*13 1/2 and 25*11 1/2--12 1/2in. (31.6cm.) long
(50oz. 12dwt.) (2)
STERLING STANDARD, LONDON, 1748, MAKER'S MARK OF PAUL DE LAMERIE (HARE. NO. 5)
Of shaped oval form, the rims applied with a band of rosettes with scroll, blossom and rocaille motifs at intervals, the borders engraved twice with a crest, marked on reverses, numbered 10 and 11 and with scratch weights 26*13 1/2 and 25*11 1/2--12 1/2in. (31.6cm.) long
(50oz. 12dwt.) (2)
Provenance
The Sneyd Heirlooms, Christie's, London, June 24, 1924, lot 88 (a set of four)
Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, April 28, 1965, lot 113
Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, April 28, 1965, lot 113
Literature
Schroder, 1983, p. 14, no. 8
Hare et al., p. 170
Hare et al., p. 170
Exhibited
Cheltenham, 1983, no. 8
Engraved
The crest is that of Sneyd. The Sneyds were considerable patrons of Lamerie's workshop. Ralph Sneyd (1723-1793) of Keele Hall, Staffordshire, succeeded his father in 1733. His father had been M.P. for Staffordshire 1713-1715 and had played a prominent part in the Jacobite rising in 1715. This did not however prevent him from serving as High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1720.
Ralph Sneyd the younger married in 1749 Barbara, daughter of Sir Walyer Wagstaffe Bagot, 5th Bt. Theses dishes evidently formed part of their wedding plate, as did a pair of lavish rococo baskets in silver-gilt of 1747 (lot 64 in the 1924 sale) now in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg (Davis, no. 119) and a pair of plain candlesticks of 1749 (lot 78 in the 1924 sale, subsequently sold from the collection of Mrs. Fay Plohn, Sotheby's, New York, July 16, 1970, lot 96) now in the E.W. Davidson collection.
When sold in 1924, these dishes were sold as a set of four. Subsequently divided, the other pair was sold from the Plohn collection (see above), lot 95 and is now in the collection of J. Ortiz-Patino. The numbers engraved on the reverses of these two dishes suggests that however that originally the set was much larger; indeed, as Timothy Schroder has suggested, the style of these dishes is more in keeping with the 1730s and would sugest that they were ordered to enlarge an existing dinner service (Schroder, 1983, p. 14)
Ralph Sneyd the younger married in 1749 Barbara, daughter of Sir Walyer Wagstaffe Bagot, 5th Bt. Theses dishes evidently formed part of their wedding plate, as did a pair of lavish rococo baskets in silver-gilt of 1747 (lot 64 in the 1924 sale) now in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg (Davis, no. 119) and a pair of plain candlesticks of 1749 (lot 78 in the 1924 sale, subsequently sold from the collection of Mrs. Fay Plohn, Sotheby's, New York, July 16, 1970, lot 96) now in the E.W. Davidson collection.
When sold in 1924, these dishes were sold as a set of four. Subsequently divided, the other pair was sold from the Plohn collection (see above), lot 95 and is now in the collection of J. Ortiz-Patino. The numbers engraved on the reverses of these two dishes suggests that however that originally the set was much larger; indeed, as Timothy Schroder has suggested, the style of these dishes is more in keeping with the 1730s and would sugest that they were ordered to enlarge an existing dinner service (Schroder, 1983, p. 14)