UNMARKED, CIRCA 1750, ATTRIBUTED TO EDWARD WAKELIN

Details

A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER-GILT CREAM BOATS
UNMARKED, CIRCA 1750, ATTRIBUTED TO EDWARD WAKELIN
Each oval on spreading rococo base cast with scrolls and shells framing two cartouches featuring in one a turtle and in the other a salamander, the plain body applied and chased with rococo cartouches depicting a sheep and goat in rural vignettes, the scroll handle with ram's head thumbpiece, later engraved below the spout with a coat-of-arms below a marquess' coronet
6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm.) long
31 oz. 5 dwt. (972 gr.)

Provenance

Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, Marquess of Chandos (1797-1861), later 2nd Duke of Buckingham,
Stowe House; Christie's House Sale, 15 August 1848 and for 37 days, the 17th day, lot 332 (£19 to Mr. Wells), 'a pair of beautiful cream boats with fables cast in high relief'.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 30 November 1978, lot 71.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 11 November 1993, lot 425.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Harry Williams-Bulkeley International Head of Silver Department

hwilliams-bulkeley@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2666

Lot Essay

THE STOWE SALE
The Stowe sale, a forty-day sale of the contents of the Duke of Buckingham's family seat in 1848, was widely covered by the contemporary press, as it represented an astonishing reversal of fortune for one of England's greatest families. Richard, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (1797-1861), through excessive expenditure and land speculation, had within eight years of his succession become a 'ruined man' bankrupt with debts of over one million pounds. The Times wrote censoriously of the Duke 'as a man of the highest rank, and of a property not unequal to his rank, who has flung away all by extravagance and folly, and reduced his honour to the tinsel of a pauper and the baubles of a fool.'

A number of cream boats for this type are known, the majority of which are unmarked, such as the example sold from the collection of the late Hilmar Reksten, Christie's, London, 22 May 1991, lot 80, however, one struck with the maker's mark of Edward Wakelin was sold Sotheby's, London, 17 November 1960, lot 151 and is illustrated in V. Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver, London, 1986, p. 201, no. 860.

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