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Lot Essay
VULLIAMY'S TUREENS
These masterpieces of the neo-classical style were produced by the celebrated firm of Vulliamy, founded by the Swiss born watchmaker Francois-Justin Vulliamy (1712-1797), who came to London during the second quarter of the 18th century. He married Mary Gray, the daughter of his sometime business partner Benjamin Gray, who counted King George II as one of his clients. Their son Benjamin Vulliamy (1747-1811) continued his father’s business and became clockmaker to King George III in 1772. Their premises were located conveniently close to St. James Palace at 74-76 Pall Mall. Benjamin’s eldest son, Benjamin Lewis (1780-1854) later worked as a junior partner. Vulliamy began expanding their interests in the first decade of the 19th century into the production of a wide range of the finest decorative objects in ormolu, bronze, marble and silver. An invoice from 1810 proudly proclaimed ‘Vulliamy & Son, Watch and Clockmakers to their Majesties, The Prince of Wales, and the Dukes of Kent, Cumberland and Cambridge...Ornamental Plate and Plate for table uses, designed in good taste, after antique models...Large or small orders executed in Silver or Silver-gilt in the best manner...Ornamental work in metal for lights or other purposes made and gilt in the best, or in common gilding'.
In common with the Royal Goldsmith Rundell, Bridge and Rundell the Vulliamys had a network of independent specialists and designers, enabling them to flourish whilst the traditional Parisian suppliers of luxury goods had been largely cut off from the English market by the Napoleonic wars in France. They were able to satisfy their aristocratic patrons’ appetite for objets de luxe in ormolu, bronze and in rare instances in silver, closely supervising their production using the finest techniques and materials. This is evident with the Brownlow tureens, with their truly massive construction and exceptional chasing. The extraordinary lengths that went into the creation of the tureens was demonstrated by Helen Clifford in her in depth study of their silver production in her article "The Vulliamys and the Silversmith, 1793-1817," published in The Silver Society Journal in 1998.
The extraordinary survival of many of the firms papers, now preserved in the Public Record Office, Kew, enabled Clifford to set out a detailed examination of their production methods. She made use of the ‘Silver Book’ which recorded the details of patrons, the workmen employed on each commission and the work for the period 1810-1815. The first order was for a large centerpiece for Lord Anson, then a pair of ‘bottle stands’ for Lord Amhurst. The third order was for a pair of tureens for Lord Reay. Clifford lists the various production processes and the workmen who completed them; the making of separate patterns in plaster for the stand, lip handles and foot. A ‘clay sketch of the handle’ was executed by Smith, ’Patterns for the scroll pieces’ by Brownley and Pryse ‘carved the patterns of the husks on the body'. The eight feet were chased by Lacey together with the ’14 festoons of Husks’, and the bodies were chased by Caney. It is almost unheard-of to have such detailed knowledge of the division of labor for the production of a Regency silver piece, not least to also have the names of the workmen recorded.
The supervising silversmith was Richard Cooke and it was he who supplied 1,076 oz. 18 dwt. of silver charging 6 s per ounce for the making at a cost of £323 1s 4d. The patterns were billed at £23 16s 4d, which together amounted to £698 14s 11d, invoiced to Lord Reay in July 1810. As Clifford notes the client must have been pleased with the work as he commissioned two more tureens, the work being complete by October the same year. The ‘buttons’ or finals were produced in August and the records give a unique insight into the design and execution. A ‘wax model together with all the Parts in detail including three clay sketches, Fruit, vegetables and shell fish’ were charged at £5 5s, the work of the modeler Smith. In September another is listed in the records, ‘A Cray fish to chase from’. In her article Clifford sets out in detail work completed for Lord Brownlow in April 1811. It relates to the ‘Mounting of 4 Silver Coat of Arms on two Terrines’.
‘April 1 Crampton the model in wax 7- 19-0
April 3 Barnet casting 0- 1- 3
April 4 Culmore filing up 0- 2 -2
April 13 Caney chasing 3- 3 -0
April 25 Cooke the silver 11oz at 6⁄3 3- 8 -9
Cooke casting 4 coats of arms
fitting screws 2- 2 -0
Canning chasing 2 Ditto 4- 0 -0
Barker chasing 2 Ditto 4- 0 -0
Cooke Duty on Silver at 1⁄3 0- 0 -9
May Seagave burnishing &c 2 Terrines
complete and 1 stand 1- 4 -0
_______
26- 0 -6’
Clifford cites the theory put forward by Timothy Clifford that the modeler who provided the sculptures for the Derby porcelain figures commissioned by Vulliamy was likely to be one and the same who created the model from which one in wax was produced by Crampton.
The detailed listing of cast coats-of-arms for Lord Brownlow, but the absence of any record of the tureens for which they were created has led to the suggestion that the second pair of tureens commissioned initially by Lord Reay were eventual purchased by Lord Brownlow, their model embellished with the ultimate armorial ornament of specially modelled and cast coats-of-arms, rather than the cheaper and more usual engraved arms. The initial pair of tureens commissioned by Lord Reay may be one of those of 1810 which appeared at auction at Christie’s, New York, 6 December 1978, lot 59 and subsequently Sotheby’s, New York, 19 October 1995, lot 382 and then 30 April-1 May 2003, lot 249. These examples, a single or possibly a pair, were lacking arms, covers and stands.
JOHN CUST, 2ND BARON AND 1ST EARL BROWNLOW
The earl's cousin Caroline Cust described him as a 'student of the classics with literary and refined tastes' who 'had greatly enjoyed a tour on the Continent'. This biographical note is found in Miss Cust's publication Some account of the Cust family, from the time of Edward IV to the present day, published in London in 1923. Miss Cust also detailed the travels in 1801 the then Honorable John Cust took with his younger brother Henry through Russia and Germany, John having completed his studies at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. The young men were present at the coronation of Tsar Alexander I in September of that year. In December they traveled via Warsaw to Dresden where they admired Meissen porcelain. On his return John stood and was elected as M.P. for Clitheroe, a seat he held until his father's death in 1807.
Lord Brownlow was strongly Conservative in his politics and is said by his cousin to have even forbade the reading of The Times newspaper in his presence. The windows of his London house were broken by the mob following the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 as they had not been illuminated in celebration. Despite being described by his cousin as socially 'very alarming' and one of whom 'many people were terrified of', he was a reforming landlord, rehousing many of his cottagers in fine three bedroomed houses, much to the annoyance of his less generous neighbors. He served as lord-lieutenant of Lincolnshire for over forty years and rose to colonelcy of the South Lincolnshire militia. Lord Liverpool elevated him with an earldom, Lord Brownlow having claimed in correspondence that 'no one has been a more steady and zealous friend to your lordship’s administration, and in carrying into execution the measures of government, particularly those relating to the militia'.
A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries from the age of 21 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1805, and held the office of President of the Royal Archaeological Society from 1841 until 1849. These highly fashionable tureens were no doubt commissioned to celebrate his marriage to Amelia Sophia Hume (1788-1814), daughter of Sir Abraham Hume, 2nd Bt. in July 1810. Tragically Amelia died less than four years later having given birth to a daughter and two younger sons. Lord Brownlow employed the celebrated Italian sculptor Antonio Canova to immortalize her with a magnificent memorial in the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, near his Lincolnshire seat Belton House. Lord Brownlow used the services of the King's architect Sir Jeffrey Wyattville to embellish his house in Cavendish Square and to create a mortuary chapel for himself. In the 1830s he looked to Sir Robert Smirke to design a magnificent London house at 12 Belgrave Square, which now serves as the Portuguese Embassy. After the death of his first wife Lord Brownlow married twice more; Caroline Fludyer (17934-1824), the daughter of George Fludyer in 1818 and finally Lady Emma Sophia Edgcumbe, daughter of Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, in 1828. He was succeeded by his grandson as his elder son John Egerton, Viscount Alford, had predeceased him in 1851.
These masterpieces of the neo-classical style were produced by the celebrated firm of Vulliamy, founded by the Swiss born watchmaker Francois-Justin Vulliamy (1712-1797), who came to London during the second quarter of the 18th century. He married Mary Gray, the daughter of his sometime business partner Benjamin Gray, who counted King George II as one of his clients. Their son Benjamin Vulliamy (1747-1811) continued his father’s business and became clockmaker to King George III in 1772. Their premises were located conveniently close to St. James Palace at 74-76 Pall Mall. Benjamin’s eldest son, Benjamin Lewis (1780-1854) later worked as a junior partner. Vulliamy began expanding their interests in the first decade of the 19th century into the production of a wide range of the finest decorative objects in ormolu, bronze, marble and silver. An invoice from 1810 proudly proclaimed ‘Vulliamy & Son, Watch and Clockmakers to their Majesties, The Prince of Wales, and the Dukes of Kent, Cumberland and Cambridge...Ornamental Plate and Plate for table uses, designed in good taste, after antique models...Large or small orders executed in Silver or Silver-gilt in the best manner...Ornamental work in metal for lights or other purposes made and gilt in the best, or in common gilding'.
In common with the Royal Goldsmith Rundell, Bridge and Rundell the Vulliamys had a network of independent specialists and designers, enabling them to flourish whilst the traditional Parisian suppliers of luxury goods had been largely cut off from the English market by the Napoleonic wars in France. They were able to satisfy their aristocratic patrons’ appetite for objets de luxe in ormolu, bronze and in rare instances in silver, closely supervising their production using the finest techniques and materials. This is evident with the Brownlow tureens, with their truly massive construction and exceptional chasing. The extraordinary lengths that went into the creation of the tureens was demonstrated by Helen Clifford in her in depth study of their silver production in her article "The Vulliamys and the Silversmith, 1793-1817," published in The Silver Society Journal in 1998.
The extraordinary survival of many of the firms papers, now preserved in the Public Record Office, Kew, enabled Clifford to set out a detailed examination of their production methods. She made use of the ‘Silver Book’ which recorded the details of patrons, the workmen employed on each commission and the work for the period 1810-1815. The first order was for a large centerpiece for Lord Anson, then a pair of ‘bottle stands’ for Lord Amhurst. The third order was for a pair of tureens for Lord Reay. Clifford lists the various production processes and the workmen who completed them; the making of separate patterns in plaster for the stand, lip handles and foot. A ‘clay sketch of the handle’ was executed by Smith, ’Patterns for the scroll pieces’ by Brownley and Pryse ‘carved the patterns of the husks on the body'. The eight feet were chased by Lacey together with the ’14 festoons of Husks’, and the bodies were chased by Caney. It is almost unheard-of to have such detailed knowledge of the division of labor for the production of a Regency silver piece, not least to also have the names of the workmen recorded.
The supervising silversmith was Richard Cooke and it was he who supplied 1,076 oz. 18 dwt. of silver charging 6 s per ounce for the making at a cost of £323 1s 4d. The patterns were billed at £23 16s 4d, which together amounted to £698 14s 11d, invoiced to Lord Reay in July 1810. As Clifford notes the client must have been pleased with the work as he commissioned two more tureens, the work being complete by October the same year. The ‘buttons’ or finals were produced in August and the records give a unique insight into the design and execution. A ‘wax model together with all the Parts in detail including three clay sketches, Fruit, vegetables and shell fish’ were charged at £5 5s, the work of the modeler Smith. In September another is listed in the records, ‘A Cray fish to chase from’. In her article Clifford sets out in detail work completed for Lord Brownlow in April 1811. It relates to the ‘Mounting of 4 Silver Coat of Arms on two Terrines’.
‘April 1 Crampton the model in wax 7- 19-0
April 3 Barnet casting 0- 1- 3
April 4 Culmore filing up 0- 2 -2
April 13 Caney chasing 3- 3 -0
April 25 Cooke the silver 11oz at 6⁄3 3- 8 -9
Cooke casting 4 coats of arms
fitting screws 2- 2 -0
Canning chasing 2 Ditto 4- 0 -0
Barker chasing 2 Ditto 4- 0 -0
Cooke Duty on Silver at 1⁄3 0- 0 -9
May Seagave burnishing &c 2 Terrines
complete and 1 stand 1- 4 -0
_______
26- 0 -6’
Clifford cites the theory put forward by Timothy Clifford that the modeler who provided the sculptures for the Derby porcelain figures commissioned by Vulliamy was likely to be one and the same who created the model from which one in wax was produced by Crampton.
The detailed listing of cast coats-of-arms for Lord Brownlow, but the absence of any record of the tureens for which they were created has led to the suggestion that the second pair of tureens commissioned initially by Lord Reay were eventual purchased by Lord Brownlow, their model embellished with the ultimate armorial ornament of specially modelled and cast coats-of-arms, rather than the cheaper and more usual engraved arms. The initial pair of tureens commissioned by Lord Reay may be one of those of 1810 which appeared at auction at Christie’s, New York, 6 December 1978, lot 59 and subsequently Sotheby’s, New York, 19 October 1995, lot 382 and then 30 April-1 May 2003, lot 249. These examples, a single or possibly a pair, were lacking arms, covers and stands.
JOHN CUST, 2ND BARON AND 1ST EARL BROWNLOW
The earl's cousin Caroline Cust described him as a 'student of the classics with literary and refined tastes' who 'had greatly enjoyed a tour on the Continent'. This biographical note is found in Miss Cust's publication Some account of the Cust family, from the time of Edward IV to the present day, published in London in 1923. Miss Cust also detailed the travels in 1801 the then Honorable John Cust took with his younger brother Henry through Russia and Germany, John having completed his studies at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. The young men were present at the coronation of Tsar Alexander I in September of that year. In December they traveled via Warsaw to Dresden where they admired Meissen porcelain. On his return John stood and was elected as M.P. for Clitheroe, a seat he held until his father's death in 1807.
Lord Brownlow was strongly Conservative in his politics and is said by his cousin to have even forbade the reading of The Times newspaper in his presence. The windows of his London house were broken by the mob following the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 as they had not been illuminated in celebration. Despite being described by his cousin as socially 'very alarming' and one of whom 'many people were terrified of', he was a reforming landlord, rehousing many of his cottagers in fine three bedroomed houses, much to the annoyance of his less generous neighbors. He served as lord-lieutenant of Lincolnshire for over forty years and rose to colonelcy of the South Lincolnshire militia. Lord Liverpool elevated him with an earldom, Lord Brownlow having claimed in correspondence that 'no one has been a more steady and zealous friend to your lordship’s administration, and in carrying into execution the measures of government, particularly those relating to the militia'.
A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries from the age of 21 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1805, and held the office of President of the Royal Archaeological Society from 1841 until 1849. These highly fashionable tureens were no doubt commissioned to celebrate his marriage to Amelia Sophia Hume (1788-1814), daughter of Sir Abraham Hume, 2nd Bt. in July 1810. Tragically Amelia died less than four years later having given birth to a daughter and two younger sons. Lord Brownlow employed the celebrated Italian sculptor Antonio Canova to immortalize her with a magnificent memorial in the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, near his Lincolnshire seat Belton House. Lord Brownlow used the services of the King's architect Sir Jeffrey Wyattville to embellish his house in Cavendish Square and to create a mortuary chapel for himself. In the 1830s he looked to Sir Robert Smirke to design a magnificent London house at 12 Belgrave Square, which now serves as the Portuguese Embassy. After the death of his first wife Lord Brownlow married twice more; Caroline Fludyer (17934-1824), the daughter of George Fludyer in 1818 and finally Lady Emma Sophia Edgcumbe, daughter of Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, in 1828. He was succeeded by his grandson as his elder son John Egerton, Viscount Alford, had predeceased him in 1851.