.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
SILVER FROM THE 2ND EARL OF WARRINGTON'S COLLECTION
George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington, was an important patron of the leading Huguenot silversmiths of his day, and his meticulously well-documented and extensive silver collection provides us with a fascinating insight into, not only the taste of the 2nd Earl, but also of the use of silver in a great English country house during the first half of the 18th century.
Upon succeeding his father in 1693, the 2nd Earl inherited immense debts caused in part by his father's profligacy and his spending in support of William of Orange and the Protestant campaign to depose King James II. As a consequence the Earl was compelled to make a strategic but unhappy marriage to Mary Oldbury, the daughter of a rich London merchant, which brought him a dowry of some £40,000 in 1702.
The Earl was described by a dining companion in correspondence as 'the stiffest of all stiff things'. Lomas and Rothwell, op. cit., p. 21 provide a contemporary commentary on the marriage from P. Bliss's copy of Royal and Noble Authors in the British Museum. They cite a note made in the margin, 'Some years after my Lady had consign'd up her whole fortune to pay my Lord's debt, they quarrell'd and lived in the same house as absolute strangers to each other at bed and board'.
No less flattering were the observations of Peggy Bradshaw made in a letter to the Countess of Suffolk in 1722 which described the Countess as '...a limber dirty fool'. They also record the comments made by Betty Durham, thought to have been the illegitimate daughter of the earl, which whilst intended to highlight the Countess' bad behaviour, give the impression of a high-spirited and independent woman who no doubt took pleasure in provoking her miserly husband.
'She was fond of sports, and was in the habit of driving to the Knutsford Races in her own coach and four, her horses being large powerful blacks; and it was her delight on these occasions to dash past the coach of her lord which, owing to the greater strength of her horses, she could easily do waving her hand- kerchief at him gaily as she went by...Another of her freaks was to drive to Altrincham dash through the fair, upsetting stalls, frightening women and creating a huge sensation. It is but doing justice to her ladyship to say that she was always willing to pay for any damage she did. She was also a great patron of athletic games... [at which] she would constitute herself the arbitress of the proceedings and crack rude jokes with the young men congregated there.'
The Earl of Warrington's silver is distinguished by its high quality, heavy gauge, and conservative taste, as the Earl mostly favoured the plain and massive fashions of the early 18th century. His near obsession with building the silver collection at Dunham Massey is underscored by the existence of a lengthy inventory written in his own hand, titled 'The Particular of my Plate & Its Weight.' The seventeen-page document, dated 30 April 1750 and amended by the Earl in 1754, records over 25,000 ounces of silver objects.
Despite being unhappy in marriage, the Earl was devoted to his only child, Mary, who married the 4th Earl of Stamford in 1736, and after Warrington's death in 1758, Dunham Massey passed to them and subsequently descended in the Grey family, Earls of Stamford. A significant portion of the Warrington plate, including the present lot and the two following were sold by their heirs at Christie's on 20 April 1921. A second sale followed on 25 February 1931, however, thanks to the tenacity of Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford (1896-1976) much of the silver collection was reunited and displayed at Dunham Massey following his gift of the house and estate to the National Trust.
For an exhaustive and scholarly study of Lord Warrington's plate see J. Lomax and J. Rothwell, Country House Silver from Dunham Massey, National Trust, 2006. For earlier biographical studies of Lord Warrington, see J. Hayward, 'The Earl of Warrington's Plate', Apollo, July 1978, and T. Schroder, 'George Booth and William Beckford: A Study in Patronage,' International Silver and Jewellery Fair Annual, 1989.
PETER ARCHAMBO AND THE EARL OF WARRINGTON'S PLATE
Possibly born to a tailor from Saumur, Peter Archambo is first recorded in London in 1680. In 1710 he was apprenticed to fellow Huguenot Jacob Margas, becoming free in 1720, entering his first mark the following year, whilst working from the sign of the Golden Cup in Green Street. From 1728 until 1740 he was the Earl of Warrington's main supplier of silver, having succeeded Isaac Liger. In his first year, 1728, he delivered the current lot, part of the Earl's extraordinarily extensive service of one hundred and forty-four dinner plates. Lomas and Rothwell, op. cit., p. 73, observe that in size the service far exceeded the mere seven dozen dinner plates delivered to the Earl of Chesterfield from the Jewel House for his embassy to Holland in 1727, and the two services of eight dozen dinner plates, one ordered by the Duke of Beaufort for Badminton in 1705, another by the Earl of Carlisle for Castle Howard in 1720. They estimated that the service cost the Earl £1,280, an enormous sum for someone who had so recently had considerable financial woes.
In the twelve or so years Archambo worked for the Earl, he created some of his finest works, such as the magnificent 1,126 oz. wine cistern and its accompanying wine fountain. Weighing 577 oz. the fountain is an example of what has become known as a duty dodger. Archambo inserted a small hallmarked disc under the body, rather than submitting the whole object for hallmarking, thus avoiding the shilling an ounce tax, which had been instigated in 1720. By doing so, Lomas and Rothwell calculated that he saved £14 18s and 6d. Archambo also created a large number of the Earl's waiters and salvers. A pair of very finely engraved salvers, 16 in. diameter, from 1738 were sold from the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller at Christie's, New York, 9 May 2018, lot 175. Other works he created for the earl included a geometrically pleasing triangular egg-cruet and ten egg-cups from 1740, six butter shells realistically cast in 1731 and even a simple fruit knife. Two other highly significant commissions were '2 large hanging chandeliers for 6 candles' which weighed 1,060 oz. marked for 1734 and an unparalleled set of '6 very large Sconces with sockets in gt [great] Bedchamber'. Each of these 'picture sconces' weighed over 100 oz. their back plates being finely chased with mythological scenes. Four are now preserved at Dunham Massey.
George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington, was an important patron of the leading Huguenot silversmiths of his day, and his meticulously well-documented and extensive silver collection provides us with a fascinating insight into, not only the taste of the 2nd Earl, but also of the use of silver in a great English country house during the first half of the 18th century.
Upon succeeding his father in 1693, the 2nd Earl inherited immense debts caused in part by his father's profligacy and his spending in support of William of Orange and the Protestant campaign to depose King James II. As a consequence the Earl was compelled to make a strategic but unhappy marriage to Mary Oldbury, the daughter of a rich London merchant, which brought him a dowry of some £40,000 in 1702.
The Earl was described by a dining companion in correspondence as 'the stiffest of all stiff things'. Lomas and Rothwell, op. cit., p. 21 provide a contemporary commentary on the marriage from P. Bliss's copy of Royal and Noble Authors in the British Museum. They cite a note made in the margin, 'Some years after my Lady had consign'd up her whole fortune to pay my Lord's debt, they quarrell'd and lived in the same house as absolute strangers to each other at bed and board'.
No less flattering were the observations of Peggy Bradshaw made in a letter to the Countess of Suffolk in 1722 which described the Countess as '...a limber dirty fool'. They also record the comments made by Betty Durham, thought to have been the illegitimate daughter of the earl, which whilst intended to highlight the Countess' bad behaviour, give the impression of a high-spirited and independent woman who no doubt took pleasure in provoking her miserly husband.
'She was fond of sports, and was in the habit of driving to the Knutsford Races in her own coach and four, her horses being large powerful blacks; and it was her delight on these occasions to dash past the coach of her lord which, owing to the greater strength of her horses, she could easily do waving her hand- kerchief at him gaily as she went by...Another of her freaks was to drive to Altrincham dash through the fair, upsetting stalls, frightening women and creating a huge sensation. It is but doing justice to her ladyship to say that she was always willing to pay for any damage she did. She was also a great patron of athletic games... [at which] she would constitute herself the arbitress of the proceedings and crack rude jokes with the young men congregated there.'
The Earl of Warrington's silver is distinguished by its high quality, heavy gauge, and conservative taste, as the Earl mostly favoured the plain and massive fashions of the early 18th century. His near obsession with building the silver collection at Dunham Massey is underscored by the existence of a lengthy inventory written in his own hand, titled 'The Particular of my Plate & Its Weight.' The seventeen-page document, dated 30 April 1750 and amended by the Earl in 1754, records over 25,000 ounces of silver objects.
Despite being unhappy in marriage, the Earl was devoted to his only child, Mary, who married the 4th Earl of Stamford in 1736, and after Warrington's death in 1758, Dunham Massey passed to them and subsequently descended in the Grey family, Earls of Stamford. A significant portion of the Warrington plate, including the present lot and the two following were sold by their heirs at Christie's on 20 April 1921. A second sale followed on 25 February 1931, however, thanks to the tenacity of Roger Grey, 10th Earl of Stamford (1896-1976) much of the silver collection was reunited and displayed at Dunham Massey following his gift of the house and estate to the National Trust.
For an exhaustive and scholarly study of Lord Warrington's plate see J. Lomax and J. Rothwell, Country House Silver from Dunham Massey, National Trust, 2006. For earlier biographical studies of Lord Warrington, see J. Hayward, 'The Earl of Warrington's Plate', Apollo, July 1978, and T. Schroder, 'George Booth and William Beckford: A Study in Patronage,' International Silver and Jewellery Fair Annual, 1989.
PETER ARCHAMBO AND THE EARL OF WARRINGTON'S PLATE
Possibly born to a tailor from Saumur, Peter Archambo is first recorded in London in 1680. In 1710 he was apprenticed to fellow Huguenot Jacob Margas, becoming free in 1720, entering his first mark the following year, whilst working from the sign of the Golden Cup in Green Street. From 1728 until 1740 he was the Earl of Warrington's main supplier of silver, having succeeded Isaac Liger. In his first year, 1728, he delivered the current lot, part of the Earl's extraordinarily extensive service of one hundred and forty-four dinner plates. Lomas and Rothwell, op. cit., p. 73, observe that in size the service far exceeded the mere seven dozen dinner plates delivered to the Earl of Chesterfield from the Jewel House for his embassy to Holland in 1727, and the two services of eight dozen dinner plates, one ordered by the Duke of Beaufort for Badminton in 1705, another by the Earl of Carlisle for Castle Howard in 1720. They estimated that the service cost the Earl £1,280, an enormous sum for someone who had so recently had considerable financial woes.
In the twelve or so years Archambo worked for the Earl, he created some of his finest works, such as the magnificent 1,126 oz. wine cistern and its accompanying wine fountain. Weighing 577 oz. the fountain is an example of what has become known as a duty dodger. Archambo inserted a small hallmarked disc under the body, rather than submitting the whole object for hallmarking, thus avoiding the shilling an ounce tax, which had been instigated in 1720. By doing so, Lomas and Rothwell calculated that he saved £14 18s and 6d. Archambo also created a large number of the Earl's waiters and salvers. A pair of very finely engraved salvers, 16 in. diameter, from 1738 were sold from the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller at Christie's, New York, 9 May 2018, lot 175. Other works he created for the earl included a geometrically pleasing triangular egg-cruet and ten egg-cups from 1740, six butter shells realistically cast in 1731 and even a simple fruit knife. Two other highly significant commissions were '2 large hanging chandeliers for 6 candles' which weighed 1,060 oz. marked for 1734 and an unparalleled set of '6 very large Sconces with sockets in gt [great] Bedchamber'. Each of these 'picture sconces' weighed over 100 oz. their back plates being finely chased with mythological scenes. Four are now preserved at Dunham Massey.