A GEORGE IV SILVER TEA KETTLE, STAND, AND LAMP**

MAKER'S MARK OF PHILIP RUNDELL, LONDON, 1821

Details

A GEORGE IV SILVER TEA KETTLE, STAND, AND LAMP**
Maker's mark of Philip Rundell, London, 1821
On a triangular base with incurved sides, on three shell and vine feet, supporting three scrolling feet with applied acanthus joins and a lamp formed as acanthus leaves, the inverted pear-shaped kettle chased overall with palmettes on the lower half of the body and scrolling foliage and anthemions on a matte background on the shoulder, with a reeded leaf-capped scroll handle, a reeded spigot with anthemion tap and hinged cover and bud finial, engraved with a crest beneath the base, lamp cover, and kettle cover, marked on stand base, lamp base and cover, kettle base and cover, the stand and kettle bases stamped RUNDELL BRIDGE ET RUNDELL AURIFICES REGIS LONDONI
17¾in. (45cm.)high; 144oz. (4492gr.)

Provenance

Sir Richard Sutton Bt. (1799-1855), as part of his wedding plate on the occasion of his marriage to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Burton, in 1819.

Lot Essay

The drawing for the present kettle survives in a book of designs for silver owned by Rundell's, entitled "Designs for Plate by John Flaxman etc." Other artists who designed and modelled for Rundell's in this period were Thomas Stothard and Edward Hodges Baily, although it is possible that they worked in collaboration with Flaxman on an important design such as this kettle. The silver kettle differs from the design in the placement of the spigot; its construction suggests that the spigot was indeed lowered, but probably close to the time of its manufacture. A coffee jug of matching design, also made for Sir Richard Sutton, is in the Dallas Museum of Art (sold Christie's, London, March 5, 1997, lot 104).

[photo caption:] Design for a tea kettle, from "Designs for Plate by John Flaxman etc." formerly owned by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell. Courtesy the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum