PROPERTY OF MR. STEFAN EDLIS THE WARRINGTON PLATE (LOTS 151-153) George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington, was an important patron of the leading Huguenot silversmiths of his day, and his vast and well-documented collection provides us with a fascinating portrait not only of the 2nd Earl but also of the use of silver in a great country house of the first half of the 18th century. On his succession in 1693, the 2nd Earl inherited his father's prodigious debts along with his title. A strategic but ultimately unhappy marriage to Mary Oldbury, the daughter of a rich London merchant, brought him a dowry of land at Dunham Massey. Aside from improving its park--it was said that he planted over 100,000 trees--the 2nd Earl devoted himself to building an immense silver collection. The Warrington Plate is distinguished by its uniformly high quality, exceptionally heavy gauge, and its conservative taste, as the Earl favored the plain and massive fashions of the early 18th century. His near obsession with expanding the collection at Dunham Massey is underscored by the existence of a lengthy inventory written in his own hand, titled "The Particular of my Plate & its Weight." The seventeen-page document, dated 1750 and amended by the Earl in 1754, records over 25,000 ounces of silver objects. The Earl's only child, Mary, married Harry (Grey), 4th Earl of Stamford in 1736, and after Warrington's death in 1758, Dunham Massey passed to them and subsequently descended in the Grey family. A significant portion of the Warrington Plate was sold by their heirs at Christie's in two sales, on April 20, 1921, and February 25, 1931. (For the full biography of the 2nd Earl of Warrington and a complete study of his silver collection including a transcription of the silver inventory, see James Lomax and James Rothwell, Country House Silver from Dunham Massey, 2006)

AN IMPORTANT SET OF SIX GEORGE II SILVER DINNER PLATES FROM THE WARRINGTON PLATE

MARK OF PETER ARCHAMBO I, LONDON, 1728

Details

AN IMPORTANT SET OF SIX GEORGE II SILVER DINNER PLATES FROM THE WARRINGTON PLATE
MARK OF PETER ARCHAMBO I, LONDON, 1728
Each circular, the border engraved with a coat-of-arms, motto, and supporters surmounted by an Earl's coronet, each engraved on reverse with inventory number and scratch-weight: No. 50 21-17, No. 51 21-6-½, No. 52 21-12 ½, No. 53 21-5, No. 54 21-14-½, No. 64 21-12-½, marked on reverses
9¾ in. (23.5 cm.) diameter; 128 oz. (3,988 gr.) (6)

Provenance

George, 2nd Earl of Warrington and thence by decent to Catherine, Lady Grey and Sir John Foley Grey Bart., 20 April 1921, (part of lots 102-111).

Literature

George, 2nd Earl of Warrington, The Particulars of my Plate and its Weight, 1754, p. 8

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Lot Essay

The arms are those of Booth, for George, 2nd Earl of Warrington (1675-1758).

The present plates are listed among the "12 douzen of Plates" in the Earl's inventory, all made by Peter Archambo in 1728. Typical of Warrington's silver, these plates are extrordinarily heavy, each weighing about two ounces more than the usual plate of this size and period. Also characteristic is the virtuoso engraving, displaying the Earl's full heraldic achievement. A set of twelve matching plates sold recently at Sotheby's, New York, 20 October 2009, lot 267, with Warrington inventory numbers 55, 79, 110, 116, 120, 125, 126, 128, 130, 134, 135, and 136.

Photo caption:
2nd Earl of Warrington and His Daughter by Michael Dahl (1656-1743), Dunham Massey, The Stamford Collection (The National Trust), NTPL/John Hammond

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