A FINE GEORGE II SILVER-GILT SALVER

SILVER FROM THE COLLECTION OF GEORGE BOOTH, 2ND EARL OF WARRINGTON, 1675-1758 THE FOLLOWING 12 LOTS EACH FORMED PART OF THE CELEBRATED COLLECTION OF GEORGE BOOTH, 2ND EARL OF WARRINGTON (1675-1758). A PATRON OF THE LEADING HUGUENOT GOLDSMITHS OF HIS DAY, THE EARL FORMED A MAGNIFICENT COLLECTION OF PLATE WHICH PROVIDES US TODAY WITH AN ILLUMINATING PORTRAIT OF THIS EXTROARDINARY MAN, OBSESSED BY BOTH MONEY AND GENEALOGY. HIS FATHER'S LOYALTY TO KING WILLIAM III BROUGHT HIM AN EARLDOM BUT ON HIS DEATH IN 1693, HIS SON, INHERITED, ALONG WITH THE TITLE, HUGE DEBTS. THE YOUNG EARL QUICKLY SET ABOUT FINDING A RICH HEIRESS TO MARRY AND AFTER SEVERAL RECORDED LIASONS HE MARRIED IN 1702, MARY, THE DAUGHTER OF JOHN OLDBURY, A RICH LONDON MERCHANT. HER DOWRY WAS ¨40,000, AND ALTHOUGH FINANCIALLY REWARDING TO BOOTH, THE MARRIAGE WAS A DISASTER. IN P. BLISS'S COPY OF ROYAL AND NOBLE AUTHORS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, THERE APPEARS IN THE MARGIN THE FOLLOWING OFT-QUOTED REMARK: 'SOME YEARS AFTER MY LADY HAD CONSIGN'D UP HER WHOLE FORTUNE TO PAY MY LORD'S DEBT, THEY QUARRELL'D AND LIVED IN THE SAME HOUSE AS ABSOLUTE STRANGERS TO EACH OTHER AT BED AND BOARD'. DURING HIS LIFETIME BOOTH IS SAID TO HAVE PLANTED 100,000 TREES AT THE FAMILY SEAT, DUNHAM MASSEY IN CHESHIRE, AS WELL AS PUTTING THE ESTATE ON A SOUND FINANCIAL FOOTING. HE IS BEST REMEMBERED, HOWEVER, FOR HIS REMARKABLE AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF SILVER AND SILVER-GILT. AS A COMMODITY READILY CONVERTABLE INTO CASH IT WAS NOT THOUGHT OF AS FRIVOLOUS. HOWEVER, BETWEEN ABOUT 1706 AND 1755 HE AMASSED A HUGE COLLECTION CHIEFLY MADE BY THE LEADING HUGUENOT GOLDSMITHS OF THE DAY, INCLUDING A SMALL NUMBER OF PIECES BY PAUL DE LAMERIE, INCLUDING A SNUFFER FORMERLY SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S IN THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE MADAME GAUTRIET GOLDSMITH, SOLD IN THESE ROOMS 22, MAY 1991, LOT 271. THE PRIDE HE TOOK IN HIS SILVER IS SHOWN BY THE METICULOUS INVENTORY WHICH HE DREW UP IN HIS OWN HAND IN 1750 AND WHICH HE AMENDED FOUR YEARS LATER. ENTITLED 'THE PARTICULARS OF MY PLATE AND ITS WEIGHT' IT COMPRISES SEVENTEEN MANUSCRIPT PAGES, LISTING EVERY PIECE THAT HE ACQUIRED, EACH WITH PRECISE WEIGHT AND MANY WITH THE PRECISE LOCATION OF ITS PLACE IN THE HOUSE. IT HAS BEEN RECORDED ON MANY OCCASIONS THAT THE SOLIDITY OF A PIECE AND ITS FUNCTIONAL USE WAS FAR MORE IMPORTANT TO GEORGE BOOTH THAN ITS DESIGN. THE MAJORITY OF HIS SILVER WAS PLAIN AND, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A FINELY ENGRAVED COAT-OF-ARMS OR MONOGRAM, WAS DEVOID OF DECORATION (SEE BELOW). OF COURSE THERE WERE EXCEPTIONS IN PARTICULAR A SET OF SIX GEORGE II SILVER SCONCES HEAVILY CHASED WITH CLASSINCAL FIGURES, SOLD SOTHEBY'S 3RD MAY 1990, LOT 156, AND A SET OF SILVER-GILT SALVERS, EACH WITH FINELY ENGRAVED ROCOCO ORNAMENT INCORPORATING WARRINGTON'S MONOGRAM (SEE LOT 81). THE EARL AND HIS WIFE HAD ONLY ONE DAUGHTER, MARY, WHO MARRIED THE 4TH EARL OF STAMFORD IN 1736. AFTER WARRINGTON'S DEATH IN 1758, DUNHAM MASSEY PASSED TO THEM AND SUBSEQUENTLY DESCENDED IN THE GREY FAMILY, EARLS OF STAMFORD. A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE WARRINGTON PLATE WAS SOLD BY THEIR HEIRS AT CHRISTIE'S IN TWO SALES - APRIL 20, 1921 AND FEBRUARY 25, 1931. OTHE PIECES PASSED OUT OF THE COLLECTION PRIVATELY OF DESCENDED TO OTHER BRANCHES OF THE FAMILY SUCH AS THE PAIR OF MAGNIFICENT CHANDELIERS BY PETER ARCHAMBOM MADE IN 1734 AND WEIGHING OVER 1,000 OUNCES, NOW IN AN ENGLISH PRIVATE COLLECTION.

Details

A FINE GEORGE II SILVER-GILT SALVER
MAKER'S MARK OF DAVID WILLAUME II, LONDON, 1743

SHAPED-CIRCULAR AND ON FOUR LEAF-CAPPED CAST SCROLL FEET AND WITH MOULDED BORDER, ENGRAVED AT THE RIM WITH FOUR MONOGRAMS EACH BELOW AND EARL'S CORONET BETWEEN PANELS OF ROCOCO SHELLS, SCROLLS AND FOLIAGE, MARKED ON REVERSE AND WITH SCRATCH WEIGHT 40=2 - 11IN. (28.2CM.) DIAM.
40OZS. (1,245GRS.)

THE MONOGRAM IS THAT OF GEORGE, 2ND EARL OF WARRINGTON

Provenance

GEORGE, 2ND EARL OF WARRINGTON AND THEN BY DESCENT TO
LADY GREY AND SIR JOHN FOLEY GREY BART., SOLD IN THESE ROOMS, 20 APRIL, 1921, LOT 63 (A PAIR), (#240 TO DIGHTON)
ANONYMOUS SALE, SOTHEBY'S LONDON, 5 JUNE 1980, LOT 44 (A PAIR)

Literature

GEORGE, 2ND EARL OF WARRINGTON, THE PARTICULARS OF MY PLATE AND ITS WEIGHTS, 1750, P. 12
OZ. DW.
THE 13 GILT DESSERT WAITERS 40 2

Lot Essay

THE PAIR TO THIS SALVER WAS SOLD IN BOTH THE 1921 AND THE 1980 SALES LISTED ABOVE WAS MOST RECENTLY SOLD SOTHEBY'S NEW YORK, 28 OCTOBER 1992, LOT 353

DAVID WILLAUME II (1693-1761) WAS APPRENTICED TO HIS FATHER, DAVID WILLAUME I, IN 1707. WILLIAUME I HAD BEEN ONE OF THE LEADING GOLDSMITHS OF THE DAY AND HAD ENJOYED THE PATRONAGE OF SOME OF THE WEALTHIEST ENGLISH NOBILITY AND GENTRY. HIS SON WAS FREED FROM HIS APPRENTICESHIP IN 1723 AND ENTERED HIS FIRST MARK IN 1728. INSPITE OF HIS FATHER'S EMINENCE AS A GOLDSMITH HE DOES NOT APPEAR TO HAVE SUPPLIED PLATE TO THE EARL OF WARRINGTON. IT WOULD APPEAR THAT THE EARLY PIECES IN THE WARRINGTON COLLECTION ARE ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY BY EITHER ISAAC LIGER OR IN A FEW CASES BY LOUIS METTAYER, SUCH AS THE SNUFFER TRAY OF 1708 (LOT 90 IN THIS SALE). DAVID WILLAUME II SUPPLIED A GROUP OF PLATE ASSAYED BETWEEN 1741 AND 1744 WHICH INCLUDED NOT ONLY THE PRESENT SALVER BUT ALSO, DISHES, BOWLS, SHAVING BOWLS, A PAIR OF CANDLESTICKS OF 1742 (LOT 89 IN THIS SALE) AND TWO EWERS, ONE OF 1742, SOLD IN THESE ROOMS, 9 JULY 1986, LOT 270, NOW IN THE AL TAJIR COLLECTION AND EXHIBITED CHRISTIE'S, THE GLORY OF THE GOLDSMITH, LONDON, JANUARY 1990, NO. 82, AND ANOTHER OF 1744 WHICH WAS SOLD CHRISTIE'S NEW YORK, 30 OCTOBER 1991, LOT 304. HOWEVER THE LARGEST PIECES SUPPLIED BY HIM WAS A PAIR OF MAGNIFICENT SILVER-GILT SIDEBOARD DISHES OF 1742, WHICH WEIGHED SOME 397OZS.

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