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Lot Essay
St. Martins-in-the-Field as we know it today is the third house of worship to stand on the site. The earliest reference to the church dates to 1222, although it was known to have been a Roman and Saxon burial ground as early as 350 AD. A second church was built in 1542 at the expense of Henry VIII in an effort to keep those infected with the plague from passing through his Palace of Whitehall. A century later a great theft of St. Martins’ silver shook the parish. The Survey of London noted that 'all the early plate, comprising four silver-gilt cups with four silver-gilt covers, three silver-gilt pots, one silver charger and one silver-gilt flagon were stolen on 25th September 1649. The flagon, which bears the hall-mark 1649 was recovered, probably in a damaged condition, as it has an 18th century outer rim to the base, but the remainder is presumed to have been melted down' (vol. XX, p. 29). The Church made every effort to recover the stolen plate; the account books of the church wardens Christopher Parsons and Francis Bramwell record 'Disbursements in persecution of Robert Fielder and others that robbed the church September ye 25, 1649' followed by a long list of entries, including 'to those that word of Fielder (sic) being taken with the flagon £0.2.7' and 'to whom: Madgworth a prisoner in Newgate in hope to hear of some more of the plate £1.0.0.' In total, the church expended £14.5.2d on the persecution of Fielder.
The three communion cups included in the present lot date to 1649, and were clearly commissioned to replace those that were stolen. The cups, along with two flagons and two broad plates are recorded in the church’s account books for 1650-1651. They are again listed in an inventory made on 25 March 1687 with their corresponding weights.
The 1726 commission of the two flagons and the three patens by William Darker is connected to the construction of the third and present iteration of St. Martins. The structure built by Henry VIII had been enlarged throughout the 17th century, but by the early 18th century, the roof and masonry had become unsavable. Architect James Gibbs (1682-1754), a Scotsman and Catholic, was hired in the early 1720s to rebuild St. Martins into the celebrated structure recognized today as one of the most important churches in the world. As the fashionable new building required equally impressive communion plate, the church melted down part of the service they had assembled in the aftermath of the great theft some seventy-five years prior. The design of the newly-wrought plate remained in-keeping with conservative Tudor forms of the mid-16th century, a nod to the previous church built by Henry VIII. The church took great care to record the entry of the plate into their inventory. The undersides of the cups and patens are engraved St Martins In the Fieldes Aprill ye 6th Anno 1650 and Octbr ye 26: 1726 respectively. The churchwarden’s account books note an entry on 11 November 1726 for a payment made 'to Mr. Darker Goldsmith for gilding and altering the communion plate and new plate in exchange for the old' in the amount of £64 15s. Gifts of fine plate continued through the 18th century; in 1732 an impressive ewer and dish made by John Le Sage, was donated by Mrs. Elizabeth Pocock and is currently in the Cahn Collection. Mrs. Pocock made additional presentations in 1746, including a pair of communion cups and patens by John Kincaid, sold Christie’s London 10 June 2008, lot 53, and a pair of gilt flagons by Lewis Mettayer, now in the Gilbert Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The flagon that was recovered from the 1649 theft was sold Christie’s London, 1 December 2005, lot 511.
The three communion cups included in the present lot date to 1649, and were clearly commissioned to replace those that were stolen. The cups, along with two flagons and two broad plates are recorded in the church’s account books for 1650-1651. They are again listed in an inventory made on 25 March 1687 with their corresponding weights.
The 1726 commission of the two flagons and the three patens by William Darker is connected to the construction of the third and present iteration of St. Martins. The structure built by Henry VIII had been enlarged throughout the 17th century, but by the early 18th century, the roof and masonry had become unsavable. Architect James Gibbs (1682-1754), a Scotsman and Catholic, was hired in the early 1720s to rebuild St. Martins into the celebrated structure recognized today as one of the most important churches in the world. As the fashionable new building required equally impressive communion plate, the church melted down part of the service they had assembled in the aftermath of the great theft some seventy-five years prior. The design of the newly-wrought plate remained in-keeping with conservative Tudor forms of the mid-16th century, a nod to the previous church built by Henry VIII. The church took great care to record the entry of the plate into their inventory. The undersides of the cups and patens are engraved St Martins In the Fieldes Aprill ye 6th Anno 1650 and Octbr ye 26: 1726 respectively. The churchwarden’s account books note an entry on 11 November 1726 for a payment made 'to Mr. Darker Goldsmith for gilding and altering the communion plate and new plate in exchange for the old' in the amount of £64 15s. Gifts of fine plate continued through the 18th century; in 1732 an impressive ewer and dish made by John Le Sage, was donated by Mrs. Elizabeth Pocock and is currently in the Cahn Collection. Mrs. Pocock made additional presentations in 1746, including a pair of communion cups and patens by John Kincaid, sold Christie’s London 10 June 2008, lot 53, and a pair of gilt flagons by Lewis Mettayer, now in the Gilbert Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The flagon that was recovered from the 1649 theft was sold Christie’s London, 1 December 2005, lot 511.