MARK OF PAUL STORR, LONDON, 1813

Sir George O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) was sponsored at his baptism in 1752 by George II and succeeded his father as Earl at the age of twelve. Not overly interested in politics he vacillated between Whig and Tory, inclining more towards the latter in later years. His primary influence was in the broad and substantial patronage of the arts which he encouraged with his personal philanthropy, inviting such artists as Turner, Constable and Flaxman to his home at Petworth to work, and in his many endowments and funding of public works in Sussex. Though considered an excellent match his hand in matrimony proved elusive until his future wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Iliffe, had produced their six illegitimate children; after their marriage at Petworth in 1801 a further child was born which, however, died in infancy. The title therefore passed to his nephew, George Francis Wyndham, with whom in 1845 the peerage became extinct.

The same arms appear on the magnificent Egremont service by Storr, 1806-1807, comprising some 150 dishes and plates, 12 sauce-tureens and 22 vegetable and entrée dishes. This was sold as lot 35 in the sale cited above under provenance and again by Christie's New York, 10 January 1991, lot 54, on behalf of the Republic of the Philippines through the Presidential Commission on Good Government.