A silver-gilt font cup

MAKER'S MARK OF LIONEL ALFRED CRICHTON, LONDON, 1909

Details
A silver-gilt font cup
maker's mark of Lionel Alfred Crichton, London, 1909
Circular and on trumpet-shaped foot chased with foliage and classical medallions, the stem and upper part of the foot chased with alternating foliage and plain facets, the shallow bowl with plain rim and sides chased with moresques and strapwork, the centre engraved with a coat-of-arms above the initials A.S.C. and a presentation inscription, marked on bowl and stamped 'CRICHTON BROS LONDON & NEW YORK'
6½in. (16.5cm.) high; 7in. (18cm.) diam.
26ozs. (833grs.)

Lot Essay

Rt. Hon Leopold Stennett Amery P.C. (1873-1955) was educated at Harrow and Balliol College Oxford. He was a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and this cup would appear to be a present from twenty-eight of the fellows of All Souls on the occasion of his marriage in 1910 to Florence, daughter of John Hamar Greenwood Esq., and sister of the 1st Viscount Greenwood. Amery was a war correspondant with The Times from 1899-1900 and entered the Inner Temple in 1902. He later stood for Parliament and had a distinguished political career, becoming First Lord of the Admiralty 1922-1924 and subsequently Secretary of State for India and Burma 1940-1945.

This lot is a replica of a cup of 1557 now in the Kremlin Museum, Moscow, which was exhibited in English Silver from the Kremlin, Sotheby's, London, 1991, cat. no. 92. It was published in E. A. Jones, The Old English Plate of Russia, 1909, pl. 1. The original differs from the replica in being flat-chased inside the bowl with a bust of a Roman warrior and further similar facets, interestingly the interior view of the bowl was not published in Jones' catalogue.

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