A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER-GILT TEA-CADDIES AND A MATCHING SUGAR-VASE AND COVER

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more

SILVER-GILT FOR THE CONOLLY FAMILY (LOTS 77-79) The Rt. Hon. William James Conolly (c.1706-1754) was a nephew of William Conolly (1672-1729), speaker of the Irish House of Commons and followed his uncle in a political career. Classing himself as 'an incorrigible Whig' , he was returned MP for Ballyshannon from 1727-1754, Aldeburgh from 1734-1747, and Petersfield from 1747-2 January, 1754, when he died. During his career as both a British and an Irish MP he voted consistently for the government. Described by Mrs Delaney as 'a very generous good man', he was seen as a reliable voice for the Old Whigs and was listed for no less than thirty-seven committees between 1727 and 1748. He was recommended to Lord Strafford by his sister the Hon. Mrs Donnellan as a suitor for her niece thus: 'I hear Mr Conolly has proposed for one of your daughters... [He is an] agreeable and sensible gentleman... he has a very good fortune and... is... a sober man. He has a very good character.' Whether or not this endorsement had influence, he married on 2 March, 1733, Anne, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 3rd Baron Raby and 1st Earl of Strafford of the first creation. They had one son and seven daughters: Thomas; Catherine, who married Ralph Gore, 1st Earl of Ross; Annie, who married on 5 March, 1761, George Byng; Harriet, who married the Rt. Hon. John Staples; Frances, who married William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe; Caroline, who married John Hobart; Lucy; and Jane, who married George Robert FitzGerald. William Conolly died on 2 January, 1754 after a short illness hastened by his riding in his estates in the rain. The Conollys are likely to have been a family of minor Catholic gentry who converted to Anglicanism some time before 1660. In 1694 Speaker Conolly had married Katherine Conyngham, daughter of Sir Albert Conyngham and sister of Henry Conyngham of Mount Charles, co. Donegal, thus connecting the Conolly's to one of the most important families in west Ulster. With his wife's dowry of £2,300 Conolly began the first of many land purchases which would be the foundation of the family's enormous wealth. His great estate of Castletown, built for him in the 1720s, established him as the premier landholder in Ireland and was inhabited by his widow, Katherine, until her death. In 1729 upon his death he bequeated the Conolly estates in Donegal, Dublin, Fermanagh, Wexford and Waterford to his nephew William, adding to the latter's holdings at Rathfarnham, Leixlip Castle, and Stratton Hall, Staffordshire. Upon Katherine's death the remainder of the Conolly holdings, including property in Wales, Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Roscommon, together with £10,000, were left to the younger William, who by the time of his own death had an income estimated at £15,000 per annum. Castletown then passed to his son, Thomas, who married in 1758, Lady Louisa Lennox (1743-1821), daughter of of Charles Lennox, second duke of Richmond and Lennox (1701-1750), and his wife, Sarah (1706-–1751)

A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER-GILT TEA-CADDIES AND A MATCHING SUGAR-VASE AND COVER

MARK OF AYMÉ VIDEAU, LONDON, 1741

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER-GILT TEA-CADDIES AND A MATCHING SUGAR-VASE AND COVER
MARK OF AYMÉ VIDEAU, LONDON, 1741
The tea-caddies of inverted pear-shape form, the similar sugar-vase of oval section, each on confirming foot, the lower body of each part-spirally fluted, the upper body profusely repoussé and chased with floral garlands, scrolls and foliage on a partly-textured ground, the detachable domed covers each with pineapple finial, the bodies each engraved with a coat-of-arms and later with two crests and motto with earl's coronet above, marked on bases and covers
The tea-caddies - 6½ in. (16.5 cm.) high
The sugar-vase - 6 in. (15.2 cm.) high
41 oz. (1,280 gr.)
The arms are those of Conolly impaling Wentworth, for the Rt. Hon. William Conolly (d.1754) and his wife Anne, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 3rd Baron Raby and 1st Earl of Strafford of the first creation, whom he married in 1733.

The crests are those of Byng, for John, 1st Earl of Strafford G.C.B. (1772-1860). (3)

Provenance

Supplied by George Wickes to The Rt. Hon. William Conolly (d.1754) and then by descent to his second daughter Anne (d.1806), who married George Byng M.P. (1735-1789) and by descent to their son,
George Byng Esq. M.P. (d.1847) and by descent to his brother,
John, 1st Earl of Strafford G.C.B. (1772-1860)and by descent.

Literature

Victoria and Albert Museum Mss.SD.95.0050, George Wickes Gentleman's Ledger 1741, Folio 25
'Feb 25th
To 2 tea canisters & sugar box 40 [oz] 16 [dwt] 6 [gr] £12 11s 6d
To making at 3/6 per oz. £7 3s'.
Inventory of Plate and Jewels belonging to George Byng, July 1847, Messrs Garrard & Co., Panton Street, Haymarket, London, '1 ditto [sugar] Basin, no stand oz 18' and '2 chased Caddies oz 23'.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

More from TWO LATE REGENCY COLLECTORS PHILIP JOHN MILES & GEORGE BYNG

View All