A MAGNIFICENT GEORGE II SILVER-GILT EWER AND BASIN FROM THE BEAUFORT DRESSING PLATE

MARK OF JOHN WHITE, LONDON, 1729, ENGRAVING ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES GARDNER

Details

A MAGNIFICENT GEORGE II SILVER-GILT EWER AND BASIN FROM THE BEAUFORT DRESSING PLATE
MARK OF JOHN WHITE, LONDON, 1729, ENGRAVING ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES GARDNER
The helmet-shaped ewer on spreading circular foot with engraved foliate border, the knop engraved with a band of circles, the lower part of the body finely engraved with simulated cut-card work, strapwork, foliage and lobed panels, with molded rib above, the foliage-capped C-shaped handle rising from an applied reversed double scroll and cast and chased with mask of Venus, with shaped molded border, engraved with coat-of-arms, the shaped oblong basin with molded rim, the border engraved with four masks with reeded strapwork, paterae, shells, husks and baskets of flowers between, the center engraved with coat-of-arms, the ewer with engraved scratchweight 24.18, the basin 43.14, marked on body of ewer and base of basin
9in. (23.5cm.) high, the basin 14in. (37.5cm.) long; 67ozs. (2096gr.) (2)

Provenance

This ewer and basin are part of a toilet service supplied by John White to the 3rd Duke of Beaufort and recorded in an invoice dated July the 12th 1729 (D2700 QJ 3/12):
"May 1730
Delivered a set of polish'd dressing Plate,
w 576oz 9dwt at 8s 6d per oz 241 3s 4d
For the Duty (on the service and other items) 21 14s 10d
Deld a Gilt Glass Frame w 56oz 5 at 10s per oz 28 2s 6d For Engraving coats of armes borders & Crests 28 15s 3d
(on the service and other items) For 2 Looking Glass's 5 0s 0d
For a Pincushing & diamond Case 1 0s 0d
For a case for the dressing Plate 8 0s 0d
For 4 brushes & 2 wooden linings to the Comb box 1 15s 0d Final payment settling the entire July 1729 account of over 1500 was made on the 30th July 1730.

Given either by the 3rd Duke to his brother on the latter's marriage in 1740, or left by him to his brother who succeeded as 4th Duke in 1745. The third Duke's will includes the following bequest:
"I give to my said brother Lord Charles Noel Somerset all my plate and jewels of what sort and nature the same may be." (D2700 p14/1)

Following the death of the 4th Duke in 1756, his trustees offered his plate at auction. The sale was held by Mr Prestage at his Great Room, Savile Row, on April 20, 1757, and the service was included as lot 87 (D2700 PB 3/1):
"A set of gilt dressing plate, consisting of a glass, a bason and ewer, 6 boxes, 2 basons and covers, 2 pomatum pots, 2 bottles, a pincushion box, a weight for the hair, 2 salvers, a bell, 4 brushes, and a pair of candlesticks 561 ozs 15 dwt at 6/9 per ounce"
No total sale price was given as the set was purchased back by the Trustees on behalf of the infant 5th Duke as recorded in a document dated 28th Oct 1756 - Mich 1757 (D2700 PB 3/1):
"Ditto [ie., purchased for His Grace] the Gilt Dressing Plate 189 11s 9 3/4d"

Included under the heading Gilt Plate in the inventory taken at Badminton, Dec. 1835, by James Cox of Tetbury, following the death of the 6th Duke (D2700 FmN 5/1/1):
"One Set of Dressing Plate consisting of Twenty six pieces"

Included in an account from Garrard dated June 14, 1835 for the refurbishing of an extensive group of silver sent by the 7th Duke shortly after his succession (GL 10. Folio 139):
"Repairing & regilding a silver Gilt Toilette Service consisting of 2 large boxes 2 Octagon do 2 smaller do 1 Basin 1 Ewer 2 Octagon Basons Covers & Stands 2 Jars with covers 2 Bottle Stops 2 Candles 1 bell 1 Gold Nutmeg Grater etc 46s 5d"

The 8th Duke of Beaufort, sold Christie's London, 13 June 1895, lot 69, (269 8s to C. Davis)
Sir Walter Farquhar, Baronet, who married Mary Octavia, daughter of the 6th Duke of Beaufort
Granville Farquhar, Christie's London, 19 March 1930, part of lot 29 (to Rochelle Thomas)
Christie's, London, March 17, 1999, lot 109

Literature

A.J.H. Sale, "Records of plate of the Beaufort family in the Badminton Archives and elsewhere," The Silver Society Journal, no. 7, Autumn 1995 pp. 381-391 and its supplement
A.J.H. Sale and Vanessa Brett, "John White: some recent research," The Silver Society Journal, no.8, Autumn 1996, pp. 465-472
J. D. Davis, English Silver at Williamsburg, 1979, pp. 242-244 cat. no. 273 passim
C. Oman, English Engraved Silver, London, 1978, pp. 98-99

Selected pieces from the toilet service are illustrated in E. Wenham, Domestic Silver of Great Britain and Ireland, 1931, pl. LXIX, and "Silver Toilet Services," Antique Collector, no. 19, May-June, 1948, p. 195, fig. 5

Lot Essay

Arthur Grimwade suggested that John White "either was, or employed, a particularly fine engraver who made considerable use of a grinning mask of Hogarthian type in the cartouches enclosing coat-of-arms and in strapwork borders." Charles Oman proposed Charles Gardner was the engraver.

Freed in 1714, Gardner proved to be one of most successful engravers of his day. His work was much in demand, as eleven apprentices were bound to him and most of the time he employed three apprentices. Gardner's importance is further emphasized by the fact that the Goldsmiths' Company specifically requested that Gardner engrave new plate ordered from Paul de Lamerie, Richard Bayley, Thomas Farren and Humphrey Payne.
Oman compared the engraving on the Goldsmiths' Company salvers by Bayley and Farren of 1740 and 1741, respectively, with the Beaufort jewel casket. He concluded that all were by the same hand with a "stiff and formal rendering" of the heraldry. A seal salver made for Lord Chancellor King (1669-1734) by John White in 1728 and signed "CGardner Sculpt." (Sothebys, London, June 8, 1995, lot 122) conclusively connects the two men. A two-handled cup by John White, 1730 (Christie's, New York, October 17, 2002, lot 166), must also be the work of Gardner. Its engraved border and simulated strapwork are almost identical to those on this ewer.

Charles Gardner is likely the man referred to in a letter from John White in the Badminton archives (D2700 PA 1/7):
"London July 12 1729 to Capt Burgh at his grace the Duke of Beaufort at Home Lacey Herfs I recd yours with a Bill of three Hundred Pounds on Rd Lockwood Esq. and this day sent his Grace's Plate to Badminton by John Sertain all packt in the best manner...I have this Post advertised Mr Gardiner (sic) of ye Plate being sent as above and am Sr Your most humble servant John White"

CAPTION: Henry Somerset, 3rd Duke of Beaufort, from an etching by William Hoare of Bath, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery

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