EIGHT GEORGE III SILVER DISHES FROM THE CAMELFORD SERVICE

MARK OF THOMAS HEMING, LONDON, 1763

Details

EIGHT GEORGE III SILVER DISHES FROM THE CAMELFORD SERVICE
MARK OF THOMAS HEMING, LONDON, 1763
Each with a scroll and gadroon rim, engraved with a coat-of-arms, comprising:
Four shaped circular second course dishes, marked on reverse, engraved with the scratchweights '26"9'; '27=1'; '25"11' and '27"1'
10¾ in. (27.3 cm.) diameter
A pair of oval meat dishes, marked on reverse, engraved with the scratchweights '43"12' and '42"17'
15¼ in. (38.5 cm.) long
A pair of oval game dishes, marked on reverse, engraved with the scratchweights '27"5' and '27"2'
12¾ in. (32.4 cm.) long
242 oz. (7,535 gr.)
The arms are those of Pitt with those of Wilkinson in pretence, for Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1736 - 1793), who married Anne, daughter and co-heiress of Pickney Wilkinson of Burnham, Norfolk. (8)

Provenance

Probably supplied to Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1736 - 1793).

Lot Essay

Thomas Pitt was known as a gentleman architect and Italophile, naming his house in Twickenham the Palazzo Pitti. Fellow architect Sir John Soane described Pitt as having 'classical taste and profound architectural knowledge'. Horace Walpole wrote that he was 'very amiable and very sensible' and asked his advice on the decoration of Strawberry Hill. Soane worked on two of Pitt's country houses, Petersham Lodge in Richmond in 1781 and Burnham Westgate Hall in Norfolk in 1783. His London residence, Camelford House, fronted Oxford Street at the top of Park Lane and was demolished shortly before World War I.

Camelford was also the nephew of Prime Minister William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. He was M.P. for the rotten borough of Old Sarum and Okehampton during the 1760s and 70s. He was elevated to the peerage in 1784.

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