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拍品專文
This magnificent dish is one of a series of at least nine similar dishes in the historicist style made by William Pitts for the Royal goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge and Rundell.
1. 1808 - Private Collection, United Kingdom.
2. 1809 - Formerly the Dukes of Ormonde Collection, now at the Brighton Pavilion, acc. no. 344197.
3. 1809 - Formerly in the Audrey Love Collection, New York, see A. Phillips and J. Sloane, Antiquity Revisited; English and French Silver-Gilt from the Collection of Audrey Love, London, 1997, no. 5, pp. 44-46.
4. 1809 - The Al Tajir Collection, see exhibition catalogue, The Glory of the Goldsmith, London, 1989, no. 127, pp. 164-165)
5. 1810 - Formerly the Wernher Collection, sold Christie's London, 5 July 2000, lot 1, possibly the pair to the present lot.
6. 1810 - The Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, see exhibition catalogue Carlton House, The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, London, 1991, p. 119
7. 1812 - The Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, see exhibition catalogue Carlton House, The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, London, 1991, p. 119 , fig. 73.
8. 1812 - Partridge Fine Arts, 1995, An oval chased version with repoussé and chased sides,
9. 1820 - Sotheby's, New York, 12 December 1973, lot 240, see V. Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver, London, 1986, p. 259, fig. 116.
An indication of the original cost of this dish is given by the Rundells invoice for the Royal Collection dishes listed above. The entry in the Carlton House exhibition catalogue cited ealier notes that both were originally intended to be delivered in 1811, however the Inventory of a Superb Service..., of circa 1811 records one as 'not done'. The 1810 dish was invoiced in June 1811 at the cost of £308 2s, and an additional 9s for the engraving and £96 for the gilding. The second dish was finally delivered in 1812 being invoiced in October of that year at the cost of £394 3s 4d. A fuller invoice, now lost, gave a description of the dish:
A richly chased sideboard dish, to match his Royal Highnesses, and with devices of the Feast of the Gods, from a design of Michael Angelo, with chased mosaic border, 284 oz. 15 dwt., fashion 12s/oz. = £291/17/4.; engraving crest and coronet, 9s; gilding all over dead and red, £96. (as quoted in E. A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, London, 1911, p. 114).
In spite of the statement in the Rundells' account that The Feast of the Gods was from a design of 'Michael Angelo', the actual design source for the central relief is a bronze plaque existing in three known versions, attributed alternatively to Alessandro Vittoria or Guglielmo della Porta, a Roman follower of Michelangelo. However, Rundells direct source was almost certainly an engraving of this plaque in Bernard de Montfucon's L'Antiquité Expliquée et representée en figures, a highly influential series of volumes first published in Paris in 1719, and translated for an English edition in 1721. Montfaucon was a Benedictine scholar from the congregation of Saint Maur, whose travels in Italy from 1698 to 1701 led to his ambitious compilation of all images of antiquities known in his time. The fact that the present relief was a Renaissance and not an ancient Roman work was unknown to Montfaucon, who erroneously included later works based on antique themes as well as outright forgeries in L'Antiquité Expliquée. One can be almost certain that Rundell's owned a copy of Montfaucon's work, as another engraving from his book provides the subject for the relief plaque applied to the celebrated Bacchus and Ariadne sideboard dishes designed by Thomas Stothard and made by Paul Storr for Rundells.
1. 1808 - Private Collection, United Kingdom.
2. 1809 - Formerly the Dukes of Ormonde Collection, now at the Brighton Pavilion, acc. no. 344197.
3. 1809 - Formerly in the Audrey Love Collection, New York, see A. Phillips and J. Sloane, Antiquity Revisited; English and French Silver-Gilt from the Collection of Audrey Love, London, 1997, no. 5, pp. 44-46.
4. 1809 - The Al Tajir Collection, see exhibition catalogue, The Glory of the Goldsmith, London, 1989, no. 127, pp. 164-165)
5. 1810 - Formerly the Wernher Collection, sold Christie's London, 5 July 2000, lot 1, possibly the pair to the present lot.
6. 1810 - The Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, see exhibition catalogue Carlton House, The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, London, 1991, p. 119
7. 1812 - The Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, see exhibition catalogue Carlton House, The Past Glories of George IV's Palace, London, 1991, p. 119 , fig. 73.
8. 1812 - Partridge Fine Arts, 1995, An oval chased version with repoussé and chased sides,
9. 1820 - Sotheby's, New York, 12 December 1973, lot 240, see V. Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver, London, 1986, p. 259, fig. 116.
An indication of the original cost of this dish is given by the Rundells invoice for the Royal Collection dishes listed above. The entry in the Carlton House exhibition catalogue cited ealier notes that both were originally intended to be delivered in 1811, however the Inventory of a Superb Service..., of circa 1811 records one as 'not done'. The 1810 dish was invoiced in June 1811 at the cost of £308 2s, and an additional 9s for the engraving and £96 for the gilding. The second dish was finally delivered in 1812 being invoiced in October of that year at the cost of £394 3s 4d. A fuller invoice, now lost, gave a description of the dish:
A richly chased sideboard dish, to match his Royal Highnesses, and with devices of the Feast of the Gods, from a design of Michael Angelo, with chased mosaic border, 284 oz. 15 dwt., fashion 12s/oz. = £291/17/4.; engraving crest and coronet, 9s; gilding all over dead and red, £96. (as quoted in E. A. Jones, The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, London, 1911, p. 114).
In spite of the statement in the Rundells' account that The Feast of the Gods was from a design of 'Michael Angelo', the actual design source for the central relief is a bronze plaque existing in three known versions, attributed alternatively to Alessandro Vittoria or Guglielmo della Porta, a Roman follower of Michelangelo. However, Rundells direct source was almost certainly an engraving of this plaque in Bernard de Montfucon's L'Antiquité Expliquée et representée en figures, a highly influential series of volumes first published in Paris in 1719, and translated for an English edition in 1721. Montfaucon was a Benedictine scholar from the congregation of Saint Maur, whose travels in Italy from 1698 to 1701 led to his ambitious compilation of all images of antiquities known in his time. The fact that the present relief was a Renaissance and not an ancient Roman work was unknown to Montfaucon, who erroneously included later works based on antique themes as well as outright forgeries in L'Antiquité Expliquée. One can be almost certain that Rundell's owned a copy of Montfaucon's work, as another engraving from his book provides the subject for the relief plaque applied to the celebrated Bacchus and Ariadne sideboard dishes designed by Thomas Stothard and made by Paul Storr for Rundells.