A GEORGE II SILVER-GILT EWER

MARK OF DAVID WILLAUME, LONDON, CIRCA 1720

Details

A GEORGE II SILVER-GILT EWER
MARK OF DAVID WILLAUME, LONDON, CIRCA 1720
Helmet shaped and on spreading foot, the lower body applied with strapwork, with cast mermaid handle, later engraved with an inscription, marked near rim with maker's mark only four times
8 1/2 in. (22 cm.) high
30 oz. 7 dwt. (944 gr.)
The inscription reads 'Heir Loom [sic] Bequeathed by Honble Stanhope Dormer 1811

Provenance

Bequeathed in the will of John Stanhope Wintringham Dormer (1777-1811) to his half-brother
Charles, 9th Earl Dormer (1753-1819) and the future Barons Dormer as an heirloom, by descent to
Roland, 13th Baron Dormer (1862-1920).
The Hon. Baron Dormer; Christie’s London, 27 March 1901, lot 59 (£250 to S. J. Phillips).
Almost certainly acquired by Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling (1832-1911), by descent to his son
Louis Samuel Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling (1869-1927), by descent to his son
Stuart Albert Samuel Montagu, 3rd Baron Swaythling (1898-1990).
The Rt. Hon. Lord Swaythling, removed from Townhill Park, Southampton; Christie’s London, 17 July 1946, lot 123 (£175 to Linden).

Literature

The Last Will and Testament of John Stanhope Wintringham Dormer, PRO Mss. 11/1522/68.
W. Roberts, The Magazine of Art, ‘The Collector, Art Sales of the Season, Objects of Art II’, 1902, vol. 26, p. 187.
The Connoisseur, ‘In the Salerooms’, 1901, vol. 1, p. 52.

Exhibited

London, Olympia, The Daily Telegraph Exhibition of Antiques and Works of Art, 1928, no. S 94 (Lord Swaythling).

Brought to you by

Harriet Bingham

hbingham@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2035

Lot Essay

The will of Stanhope Dormer stipulated that 'all my guilt [sic.] plate whatever I leave to Lord Dormer for his life and do request that on each article of this plate it may be engraved the following words “given by Honble Stanhope Dormer to the Lord Dormers or the hand [?] of the Dormer Family and earnestly requeste [sic.] it never be sold or exchanged”'. He also made a bequest of £200 for a fund for the poor of the parish and £10 a year to keep of his pet dog. Two silver-gilt vases and covers similarly engraved and from the Dormer collection are in the Gibbs Collection, the Nottingham Castle Museum.

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