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Lot Essay
The earliest known models of this shell-shaped basket date to the mid 1740s. Three by Paul de Lamerie are known: one in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a pair of 1747 in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (one of the pair is illustrated in Victoria and Albert Museum, Rococo Art and Design in Hogarth's England, 1984, no. G21). In the catalogue entry, Phillipa Glanville suggests that this design was perhaps inspired by earlier Meissen porcelain examples, which were imported into London in the 1730s. She cites a scallop-shaped dish by Heroldt of circa 1728 with a painted diaper border which bears resemblance to the piercing on the Lamerie baskets.
Phillips Garden, Edward Wakelin, and Thomas Gilpin all produced baskets of this design in the 1740s and 1750s. An example by Phillips Garden of 1752 was sold at Christie's, London, 5 July 2000, lot 7 and another of 1755 from the Reksten Collection was sold in the same Rooms, 22 May 1991, lot 48. A pair of baskets made by William Cripps in 1758 was sold Christie's, New York, 23 October 2000, lot 229, and another by Thomas Gilpin of 1754 from the Benjamin F. Edwards Collection was sold Christie's New York, 26 January 2010, lot 126.
Phillips Garden, Edward Wakelin, and Thomas Gilpin all produced baskets of this design in the 1740s and 1750s. An example by Phillips Garden of 1752 was sold at Christie's, London, 5 July 2000, lot 7 and another of 1755 from the Reksten Collection was sold in the same Rooms, 22 May 1991, lot 48. A pair of baskets made by William Cripps in 1758 was sold Christie's, New York, 23 October 2000, lot 229, and another by Thomas Gilpin of 1754 from the Benjamin F. Edwards Collection was sold Christie's New York, 26 January 2010, lot 126.