ATTRIBUTED TO NICHOLAS SPRIMONT OR PAUL CRESPIN, LONDON, CIRCA 1750

SPRIMONT OR CRESPIN?
These sculptural sauceboats epitomise the high Rococo style popular in mid 18th century London and the close ties between the modelling of silver and porcelain at the time, with the interconnected business relationships between a small group of leading silversmiths working around Compton Street in Soho. A study of Sprimont’s oeuvre in silver shows a close relationship with fellow Huguenot silversmith Paul Crespin (1694-1770), whose workshop was also located in Compton Street. There is compelling evidence to attribute sauceboats of this form to either silversmith.

A pair of sauceboats, almost identical to the present lot, with the mark of Crespin, hallmarked for 1746, are in the collection of The Sterling and Francine Clarke Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Beth Carver Wees, op. cit., p. 167 also notes that similar sauceboats were also produced by another Huguenot silversmith, Pezé Pilleau, whose son Isaac married a Jane Crespin, possibly Paul's daughter. A further set of four similar sauceboats marked by Crespin were sold at Christie’s, London on 26 March 1975, lot 73.

It is thought that either Sprimont worked as a modeller for Crespin, prior to registering his own mark and setting up as an independent silversmith, or that there was an exchange of casts and models between the two, and indeed a wider circle of silversmiths, as shown by a pair of candlesticks by Sprimont of 1745, also in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which are identical to a pair by Paul de Lamerie, of 1747, sold Christie's, New York, 14 April 2005, lot 234. The influence of the French master silversmith François-Thomas Germain is evident from a sauceboat, once in the Portuguese Royal Collection, illustrated by Hartop, op. cit., p. 218, from G. Bapst, L'Orfèvrerie Français à la Cour de Portugal au XVIII^e siècle, Paris, 1892, pl. XIV, fig. 50.

As Ellenor Alcorn points out, op. cit., p. 162, the links with Crespin are strong. Similar cast coral and shell ornament is found on a small teapot by Crespin of 1740, offered for sale at Christie's London, 3 March 1993, lot 247, now in the Hartman Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Alcorn also notes similar decoration on a Crespin coffee pot of the same year advertised by Spink in the Connoisseur in 1946. Crespin and Sprimont collaborated on the Prince of Wales's Neptune centrepiece. Although the piece is struck with Crespin's mark, the similarity with Sprimont's later work, including the other pieces by him for the Marine Service, has led scholars to include this piece in his list of works.

Sprimont was involved with the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory as early as 1745. He translated a number of his designs for silver into works in porcelain, such as the stand for the Rockingham Sauceboats, which are referred to as 'silver shape' in Ford's auction catalogue for the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory held in 1755 and discussed by Dr. Bellamy Gardner in his article 'Silvershape in Chelsea Porcelain', published in The Antique Collector, August, 1937, p. 213. Further influence of silver designs on the porcelain of the time is shown by a Derby sauceboat in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection, illustrated by Hartop, op. cit., p. 218. The Rockingham set of four sauceboats and stands suggests Sprimont as the likely maker for the present lot; the sauceboats are similarly unmarked, however the stands are fully marked for Sprimont, London, 1746. A pair was sold in The Exceptional Sale, Christie's London, 22 July 2020, lot 42; a further pair is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

THOMAS LUMLEY-SAUNDERSON, 3RD EARL OF SCARBROUGH
Born around 1691, the 3rd Earl was the fourth son of Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, and brother to Charles, 2nd Earl, James, and John Lumley. He briefly attended Eton College for a year between 1706 and 1707. He married Lady Frances Hamilton, daughter of George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney in 1724 having inherited the estates of his cousin James Saunderson, M.P., 1st Earl of Castleton in 1723, when he adopted the name Saunderson. Before his parliamentary career he had entered the army in 1715 but left in 1718 at the request of Lord Castleton. In 1722, he was elected as M.P. for Arundel and later served as an envoy to Portugal until 1723. After resolving his debts, including substantial liabilities to his elder brother, Lord Scarbrough, in 1724, he returned to England in early 1725 and was one of the commoners chosen to revive the Order of the Bath.

He was elected without opposition as M.P. for Lincolnshire in 1727 and applied for a peerage as Lord Castleton's heir, but his request was unsuccessful due to King George II's reluctance to grant peerages. He joined the opposition and consistently voted against the government, frequently speaking on matters related to the army and foreign affairs. He was re-elected unopposed for Lincolnshire in 1734 and continued to align with the opposition. In 1737, he was among the Members of the House of Commons who were consulted by the Prince of Wales regarding an application to Parliament for an increase in his allowance. He expressed support and spoke in favour of the increase, which earned him the position of treasurer to the Prince in 1738.

In 1740, he succeeded to the earldom of Scarbrough after the suicide of his elder brother, leaving him an inheritance of £20,000, but the family estates went to his younger brother to his great disappointment. After the fall of Walpole's government, Scarbrough, along with the other servants of the Prince, supported the new government. He lost his post upon Frederick's death. The Earl died in 1752 and was succeeded by his son Richard Lumley-Saunderson, 4th Earl of Scarbrough (b.c.1725-1782). After his death, the family faced financial difficulties and had to sell the contents of Lumley Castle, including the plate, at an auction held by James Christie in 1785. The present lot is likely to have been sold as lots 34 or 35 in the plate auction held in June 1785.