MARK OF BENJAMIN SMITH II, LONDON, 1812

Details

A REGENCY SILVER TEA URN
MARK OF BENJAMIN SMITH II, LONDON, 1812
The urn form body with band of shells and foliage, raised on three winged-caryatid supports, all on a tripod base with lion's-paw feet, fitted with an associated spirit lamp, engraved on cover, shoulder and base with the coat-of-arms of Coote for Sir Charles Henry Coote, 9th Bt. (1792-1864) under a foliate mantle, marked throughout, spirit lamp by Hamilton & Inches, Edinburgh, 1890
11 ½ in. (29.2 cm.) high; 141 oz. 12 dwt. (4,404 gr.) gross weighable silver

Provenance

Sir Charles Henry Coote, 9th Bt. (1792-1864) and then by descent to
Sir Algernon Charles Plumptre Coote, 12th Bt. (1847-1920); Christie's, London, 10 December 1896, lot 10.

Lot Essay

Sir Charles Henry Coote, 9th Bt. (1792-1864), was the son of Chidley Coote (d.1799) and his wife Elizabeth Anne. Between 1821 and 1824 Sir Charles built Ballyfin House, Mountrath, replacing a house built in 1778 by William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington, brother of the Duke of Wellington. The house was described as the grandest and most lavishly appointed early nineteenth century classical house in Ireland with an interior decorated with rich plasterwork and scagliola columns. The present plates form just a small portion of a vast service dating from 1812 which includes a massive pair of candelabra by Benjamin Smith (Lyon and Turnbull, London, 23 November 2008, lot 158), a suite of salvers by William Burwash, (Christie's, New York, 27 October 1992, lots 218 and 219); sets of dinner and soup plates (Christie's, New York, 19 October 1981, lots 110 and 111; also Christie's, London, 3 June 2015, lot 617) and a pair of chamber candlesticks by Story and Elliott (Christie's, New York, 30 October 1991, lot 166).

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