Lot Essay
This plateau forms part of an extensive service commissioned by Robert, 12th Earl of Pembroke from Paul Storr between 1827 and 1837 and evidently was made to support the most impressive piece of the service, the fantastical silver-gilt candelabrum surmounted by the Pembroke gryphon, over 40 inches high, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The use of ormolu, rather than silver, is explained by the extra strength needed to support the weight of this huge centerpiece. Interestingly, the silver-gilt candelabrum bears, in addition to London hallmarks for 1835 and Storr's maker's mark, the same engraved inscription as on the present plateau.
Other pieces of the Pembroke service include two pairs of silver-gilt double salt cellars surmounted by identical putti (one pair sold in these Rooms, April 19, 1990, lot 362; the other October 21, 1993, lot 412), a magnificent sideboard dish of 1828 (offered in these Rooms October 30, 1991, lot 277), an extensive breakfast set, 1829-1836 (Sotheby's, London, March 10, 1977, lot 201), a soup tureen of 1835, formerly in the Morrie Moss Collection, a basket of 1836 in the Gans Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine arts, Richmond, a pair of sauceboats of 1835 (sold in these Rooms October 27, 1992, lot 203), and a cruet stand (sold in the same sale lot 204).
Robert Henry Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke and 9th Earl of Montgomery, was born in 1791. He married in 1814 at 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 servante. His father attempted to have the marriage dissolved without success but succeeded in pursuading 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 return to England where his father pursuaded him to abandon the princess. A suit for restitution of conjugal rights was brought by her in the English courts in 1819 and she was awarded 800 p.a., which it is said was later increased to 5,000, but Lord Herbert 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. By 1837 though he had moved to Paris, where Lord Malmesbury visited 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" (Memoires of an ex-Minister, vol. I, p. 78). Lord Pembroke died in Paris in 1862 at the age of 70 and was buried in Pere-la-Chaise (Gentlemen's Magazine, 1862, part I, p. 78; Complete Peerage).
Other pieces of the Pembroke service include two pairs of silver-gilt double salt cellars surmounted by identical putti (one pair sold in these Rooms, April 19, 1990, lot 362; the other October 21, 1993, lot 412), a magnificent sideboard dish of 1828 (offered in these Rooms October 30, 1991, lot 277), an extensive breakfast set, 1829-1836 (Sotheby's, London, March 10, 1977, lot 201), a soup tureen of 1835, formerly in the Morrie Moss Collection, a basket of 1836 in the Gans Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine arts, Richmond, a pair of sauceboats of 1835 (sold in these Rooms October 27, 1992, lot 203), and a cruet stand (sold in the same sale lot 204).
Robert Henry Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke and 9th Earl of Montgomery, was born in 1791. He married in 1814 at 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 servante. His father attempted to have the marriage dissolved without success but succeeded in pursuading 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 return to England where his father pursuaded him to abandon the princess. A suit for restitution of conjugal rights was brought by her in the English courts in 1819 and she was awarded 800 p.a., which it is said was later increased to 5,000, but Lord Herbert 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. By 1837 though he had moved to Paris, where Lord Malmesbury visited 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" (Memoires of an ex-Minister, vol. I, p. 78). Lord Pembroke died in Paris in 1862 at the age of 70 and was buried in Pere-la-Chaise (Gentlemen's Magazine, 1862, part I, p. 78; Complete Peerage).