Lot Essay
This important surviving commission for the first Huguenot goldsmith to gain admittance to the Goldsmiths' company, is among the earliest recorded works by Pierre Havache, and is engraved with the arms of Seymour with Percy in pretence, for Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset.
Born on 12th August 1662, Charles was the youngest son of the second Baron Seymour of Trowbridge. On the death of his uncle in 1675, Charles, who had recently entered Trinity College, Cambrdige, succeeded to the Dukedom. It was, however, to his marriage that he owed all his wealth and much of his importance. His wife, Elizabeth Percy, was the only surviving daughter and sole heiress of Josceline, eleventh and last Earl of Northumberland. At the age of four she succeeded to the honours and estates of the house of Percy, holding in her own right six of the oldest baronies in the kingdom, namely Percy, Lucy, Poynings, Fitz-Payne, Bryan and Latimer. After two unsuitable marriages, firstly to Henry, Earl of Ogle, and secondly to Thomas Thynne of Longleat, the fifteen-year old Lady Percy married the Duke of Somerset on 30th May 1682, the Duke having previously agreed to assume the names and arms of Percy until his wife came of age. Somerset thus became master of Alnwick Castle, Petworth, Syon House and Northumberland House in the Strand.
Somerset was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber in 1683 and installed a Knight of the Garter on 8th April 1684. In 1685 he was appointed colonel of the Queen's Dragoons and by 1687 he had become first Lord of the Bedchamber. In 1689 he was elected Chancellor of Cambridge University (he was incorporated D.C.L. at Oxford in August 1702). He was Speaker of the House of Lords in 1690 and was one of the regents in July to November 1701. He was a prime favourite of Queen Anne and by her influence he was made Master of the Horse in 1702, and in 1706 one of the commissioners for the union with Scotland.
This stand, made in the coronation year of William and Mary, it has been suggested that 'the possibility of the stand having some connection with the actual ceremonies should be considered. It could very well have been used as bearer for the crown'. Certainly, until the coronation of George IV in 1820 it had been customary for some of the hereditary officers of State, such as the Earl Marshal, the Chief Butler, the King's Champion, the mayors of certain cities and others, to claim a piece of plate as their fee for services rendered at a coronation and the ensuing banquet. It is known that Somerset took a leading part in much of the royal pageantry of his times. He was second mourner at Charles II's funeral and 'his handsome figure appeared to advantage in pageants of this character, for which he showed an extraordinary predilection, taking a chief part at the funerals of Mary, William III, Anne, and George I, and bearing the orb at four coronations'.
Somerset was a member of the Kit-cat club and became known as 'the proud duke'. Horace Walpole often cited him as the type of aristocratic arrogance and parental despotism. He deprived his daughter, Charlotte, of #20,000 of her inheritance for having sat down in his presence. His servants obeyed him by signs and when he travelled, his outriders scoured the country roads to protect him from the gaze of the vulgar. He died at Petworth, Sussex, on 2nd December 1748 and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral.
Born on 12th August 1662, Charles was the youngest son of the second Baron Seymour of Trowbridge. On the death of his uncle in 1675, Charles, who had recently entered Trinity College, Cambrdige, succeeded to the Dukedom. It was, however, to his marriage that he owed all his wealth and much of his importance. His wife, Elizabeth Percy, was the only surviving daughter and sole heiress of Josceline, eleventh and last Earl of Northumberland. At the age of four she succeeded to the honours and estates of the house of Percy, holding in her own right six of the oldest baronies in the kingdom, namely Percy, Lucy, Poynings, Fitz-Payne, Bryan and Latimer. After two unsuitable marriages, firstly to Henry, Earl of Ogle, and secondly to Thomas Thynne of Longleat, the fifteen-year old Lady Percy married the Duke of Somerset on 30th May 1682, the Duke having previously agreed to assume the names and arms of Percy until his wife came of age. Somerset thus became master of Alnwick Castle, Petworth, Syon House and Northumberland House in the Strand.
Somerset was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber in 1683 and installed a Knight of the Garter on 8th April 1684. In 1685 he was appointed colonel of the Queen's Dragoons and by 1687 he had become first Lord of the Bedchamber. In 1689 he was elected Chancellor of Cambridge University (he was incorporated D.C.L. at Oxford in August 1702). He was Speaker of the House of Lords in 1690 and was one of the regents in July to November 1701. He was a prime favourite of Queen Anne and by her influence he was made Master of the Horse in 1702, and in 1706 one of the commissioners for the union with Scotland.
This stand, made in the coronation year of William and Mary, it has been suggested that 'the possibility of the stand having some connection with the actual ceremonies should be considered. It could very well have been used as bearer for the crown'. Certainly, until the coronation of George IV in 1820 it had been customary for some of the hereditary officers of State, such as the Earl Marshal, the Chief Butler, the King's Champion, the mayors of certain cities and others, to claim a piece of plate as their fee for services rendered at a coronation and the ensuing banquet. It is known that Somerset took a leading part in much of the royal pageantry of his times. He was second mourner at Charles II's funeral and 'his handsome figure appeared to advantage in pageants of this character, for which he showed an extraordinary predilection, taking a chief part at the funerals of Mary, William III, Anne, and George I, and bearing the orb at four coronations'.
Somerset was a member of the Kit-cat club and became known as 'the proud duke'. Horace Walpole often cited him as the type of aristocratic arrogance and parental despotism. He deprived his daughter, Charlotte, of #20,000 of her inheritance for having sat down in his presence. His servants obeyed him by signs and when he travelled, his outriders scoured the country roads to protect him from the gaze of the vulgar. He died at Petworth, Sussex, on 2nd December 1748 and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral.