MARK OF PAUL DE LAMERIE, LONDON, 1720, BRITANNIA STANDARD

GEORGE TREBY AND PAUL DE LAMERIE
George Treby, the younger, was a celebrated judge and had a long and successful political career. He was the Whig M.P. for Plympton from 1708 until 1727 and then for Dartmouth until 1742. He was appointed Secretary at War on 24 December 1718, a post he held until 1724. He was Teller of the Exchequer, 1724-1727, Master of the Household, 1730-1740 and Lord of the Treasury, 1740-1742. He married in 1725 Charity, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Roger Hele of Halwell, Devon, and had two sons and three daughters.

The rare survival of the original receipts for the plate purchased by George Treby, much of it from from the celebrated Paul de Lamerie, give a fascinating insight into Treby's taste and his patronage of Paul de Lamerie, We have a glimpse of one man's patronage over a four year period between 1721 and 1725, during which time Treby ordered some 4,500 ounces of plate from Lamerie. It is almost certain that this pair of tazze were two of a set of six which are detailed in an invoice from Lamerie to Treby dated 25th April 1721. Another pair from the set were in the collection of Irwin Untermyer, published in Y. Hackenbroch 's English and Other Silver in the Irwin Untermyer Collection, London, 1963, p. 89, cat. no. 172, sold from the collection of Miss Lilian Coats (1865-1954) of Forenthy House, Perthshire, Christie's, London, 21 July 1954, lot 61.

The greatest of Treby's commissions were the vast Treby toilet service, a marriage gift to his wife, and the beautifully engraved Treby punch bowl, both now in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, illustrated in T. Schroder, British and Continental Gold and Silver in the Ashmolean, Oxford, 2009, pp. 542-555, cat no. 207 and pp. 612-619, cat. no. 228.

George Treby (c.1684-1742), by Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723). © Image; Crown Copyright: UK Government Art Collection.