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Lot Essay
The arms are those of Booth, for George, 2nd Earl of Warrington (1675-1758).
This unusual "oatmeal" box is one of three listed in the Earl of Warrington's inventory "For the rooms" of Dunham Massey. The two other oatmeal boxes, which sold in the 1921 Foley Grey auction at Christie's, have now returned to the ancestral home of the Earl of Warrington. James Lomax and James Rothwell, in Country House Silver from Dunham Massey, note that the purpose of these boxes, as well as seven "Oatmeal plates" remains unclear. They postulate that the boxes may have held a dry oatmeal powder which was transferred to plates when prepared into a soap or lotion. While silver toilet services commonly included items for serving breakfast, these silver boxes were unlikely to have held porridge, as oats served largely as animal feed in the 18th century. These oatmeal boxes and basins, combined with other chamber silver, including hand basins, ewers, and "mouth" basins could be assembled as needed for Dunham Massey's ten principal bedrooms and dressing rooms (see Lomax and Rothwell, cat. no. 44 and 49, pp. 102-03 and 109-109 for illustrations of the two other oatmeal boxes).
This unusual "oatmeal" box is one of three listed in the Earl of Warrington's inventory "For the rooms" of Dunham Massey. The two other oatmeal boxes, which sold in the 1921 Foley Grey auction at Christie's, have now returned to the ancestral home of the Earl of Warrington. James Lomax and James Rothwell, in Country House Silver from Dunham Massey, note that the purpose of these boxes, as well as seven "Oatmeal plates" remains unclear. They postulate that the boxes may have held a dry oatmeal powder which was transferred to plates when prepared into a soap or lotion. While silver toilet services commonly included items for serving breakfast, these silver boxes were unlikely to have held porridge, as oats served largely as animal feed in the 18th century. These oatmeal boxes and basins, combined with other chamber silver, including hand basins, ewers, and "mouth" basins could be assembled as needed for Dunham Massey's ten principal bedrooms and dressing rooms (see Lomax and Rothwell, cat. no. 44 and 49, pp. 102-03 and 109-109 for illustrations of the two other oatmeal boxes).