MARK OF CHRISTIAN HILLAN, LONDON, 1742

THE MAYNARD MASTER
The three putti heads and the shells around the rim represent the Four Elements: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, the same decorative scheme used by Lamerie for the Maynard Dish of 1736 now in the celebrated Cahn Collection, where it was noted in the catalogue that such emblematic putti largely derive from engravings published by the French ornamentalist and carver Jean-Baptiste-Honore Toro (1672-1731).

Of the Maynard Dish, Michael Snodin has commented 'perhaps the most remarkable feature of the dish is its figurative ornament, here representing the Elements...while the putti and clouds can be related to those of the Blenheim wine coolers, Lamerie's versions are daringly free-floating' (Paul De Lamerie: At the Sign of the Golden Ball, Goldsmiths' Hall, London, 1990, exhibition catalogue, p. 22). The concept of a broken border incorporating the Four Elements is here executed in similar 'free-floating' style.

It is interesting to note that the putti clasping thunderbolts on these waiters are virtually identical to that on the Maynard Dish. Another dish of this model by Peter Archambo I of 1738 is at Levens Hall and was exhibited in The Treasure Houses of Britain, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1985, cat. no. 456. In her catalogue entry Judith Bannister cites identical dishes of the same size by Robert Garrard, made in 1815, sold from the collection of W. C. Chappell, Sotheby's, London, 1972, and other dishes in the same manner by William Fountain of 1816.