MARK OF PHILIP ROLLOS, LONDON, 1705, THE ENGRAVING ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN ROLLOS

Details

A PAIR OF QUEEN ANNE SILVER-GILT SALVERS FROM THE RABY AMBASSADORIAL PLATE
MARK OF PHILIP ROLLOS, LONDON, 1705, THE ENGRAVING ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN ROLLOS
Each circular on spreading cylindrical foot, with gadrooned border, applied on reverse with a cut-card calyx, engraved in the centre with the Royal arms and monogram AR, marked on field and foot
11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm.) diameter
78 oz. 10 dwt. (2,443 gr.)
The Royal arms are for Queen Anne (1702-1714) of Great Britain and Ireland.

Provenance

Granted by the Royal Warrant of Queen Anne (1702-1714) to Thomas Wentworth, Baron Raby later 3rd Earl of Strafford (1672-1739) for his embassy to Prussia, then by descent,
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 27 June 1963, lot 50.
A Gentleman; Christie's, London, 14 December 1966, lot 80.
Palladio Stiftung; Christie's, London, 25 June 1975, lot 118.
A European Gentleman; Christie's, New York, 11 April 2003, lot 334.

Literature

The Jewel House Delivery Book, 1698-1731/2, Public Record Office Mss. LC9/44, folio 184, the collection of tazze from the Jewel House.
V. Brett, The Sotheby's Dictionary of Silver, London, 1986, no. 669.
C. Truman ed., The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, London, 1989, no. 50, p. 75.

Exhibited

London, Christie's, The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, no. 50.

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

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Lot Essay

THE RABY PLATE
This pair of salvers formed part of the magnificent ambassadorial plate granted by the Crown to Baron Raby on his appointment as Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Prussia in 1705.

The Royal Jewel House Account of 25 September 1705 records the issue of these salvers:

'INDENTURE PLATE Delivered unto his Excellency the Lord Raby, Ambassador to the King of Prussia by the hands of Mr. Ellison the following particulars of gilt and white plate [ . . . ] It. two knurled salvers wt. 78ozs. 15dwts. gilt at 11s. 8d. £43 06 03'. Jewel House Account Book, 1702-1728, p. 70; PRO LC9/47.

The same account also lists two pairs of ewers and basins, one gilt and one white, also by Phillip Rollos, granted to Lord Raby at the same time. The silver-gilt ewer and basin was sold at auction in 1963 with the present salvers, and is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The other pair, in silver, was sold at Christie's, London, 23 May 1990, lot 231. All of the above ambassadorial plate, together with Lord Raby's sideboard dish of 1713, a cup and cover of 1712, a pair of wine coolers, circa 1710, and a ewer of 1702, spent over 100 years in unopened boxes at the bank Glyn, Mills & Co. of London.

The Raby plate was first deposited in 1831, where it was only retrieved for use during three or four London seasons, and after the owner's death in 1859, was apparently never touched. It was not until 1963 that the Bank was able to trace the ownership of the silver and return it to the family, who sold five pieces at that time, including the present lot, and then sold the two remaining lots at Christie's in 1990. The extraordinarily fine condition can be attributed to the silver storage for so many years.

THOMAS WENTWORTH, BARON RABY
Thomas Wentworth, Baron Raby and later Viscount Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse and Stainborough and 1st Earl of Strafford of the third creation (1672-1739) was son and heir of Sir William Wentworth of Northgate Head, Wakefield. He had a distinguished career in the army of William III and as a leading diplomat in the service of Queen Anne. After the Glorious Revolution in 1689 he took up a commission in Lord Colchester's Regiment of Horse, displaying great bravery at the Battle of Steinkirk in 1697, and in that same year took command of the Royal Regiment of Dragoons. He later became aide-de-camp to the King. He accompanied Lord Portland to the Court of the King of France in 1698. Having attended the coronation of the King of Prussia as representative of William III in 1701 he was in 1703 appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of the King of Prussia at Berlin. He was made ambassador to the Court in 1705, and the present salvers or tazze were supplied by the Queen's Jewel House as part of the ambassadorial plate.

Raby's ambassadorial career continued with his appointment to the Hague in 1711 and in the same year he was created Viscount Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse and Stainborough, Earl of Strafford, and made a Privy Councillor. In the following year he was made a Knight of the Garter and a Lord of the Admiralty. In retirement he divided his time between his estates in Yorkshire and his house in Twickenham where he corresponded with Alexander Pope and his neighbour Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. He died at Wentworth Castle in 1739.

Thomas, 3rd Earl of Strafford (1672-1739), by Paul Carl Leygebe (1664-1730). © Government Art Collection

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