A REGENCY SILVER-GILT SIDEBOARD DISH

MARK OF WILLIAM PITTS, LONDON, 1814

Details

A REGENCY SILVER-GILT SIDEBOARD DISH
MARK OF WILLIAM PITTS, LONDON, 1814
Circular, the center set with a cast copy of a late 17th century plaque of the Rape of the Sabines, the cavetto repoussé and chased with flowers in 17th century taste, the border cast with mythological scenes, including the Banquet of the Gods with Jupiter presenting Ganymede with a cup, Hercules embracing Omphale, and the Gods on Mount Olympus with Apollo playing the lyre, with gadrooned edge, marked on reverse
22 in. (55.8 cm.) diameter; 195 oz. 10 dwt. (6088 gr.)

Provenance

Mrs. C. Kisielewska Dunbar, Sotheby's, London, 11 June 1970, lot 237

Literature

V. Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver, London, 1976, p. 259, no. 1176
A. Phillips and J. Sloane, Exibition catalogue, Antiquity Revisited: English and French Silver-Gilt, London, 1997, p. 50, no. 8.

Lot Essay

William Pitts, under the direction of Rundell's, was one of the first 19th-century English silversmiths to incorporate antique plaques (or castings from them) into his work. The plaque in the center of the present dish appears to be a casting from a 17th century relief, based in turn upon an antique model, possibly a battle scene from a Roman sarcophagus. A pair of other smaller dishes by William Pitts of 1810, now in the Royal Collection, includes earlier plaques of the Restoration period: one dated 1678, the other marked by Jacob Bodendick, a foreign-trained maker who had the protection of Charles II. It is possible that the 17th century plaques were already in the Royal Collection when Rundell's commissioned Pitts to mount them. The Royal dishes have chased floral decoration of 17th-century inspiration similar to that on the present dish. (See E. A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, 1911, pl.XCVIII.)

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