Tray
Paul Storr (1771-1844)
Category
Silver
Date
1818 - 1819
Materials
Silver
Measurements
10.7 x 75.3 x 51.1 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 516404
Summary
A large two-handled oval tray, silver-gilt, sterling, mark of Paul Storr, London, 1818/9 for Rundell & Bridge. The oval surface of the tray is hammered flat and soldered to an L-shaped flange. The wide border of vine leaves, grapes and tendrils is cast in small sections and soldered to a central twisted wire. At the rim is soldered to a cast border of quatrefoils between bunches of tied leaves; at the base is soldered a second L-shaped flange. The two flanges overlap with the tray and its border held together by 20 nuts and screws. Each handle is cast in the form of a pair of entwined snakes whose heads rest on the rim of the border. The underside of the rim is soldered to four large cast bracket feet in the form of a scallop shell between acanthus and vine leaves and bunches of grapes. There are casting blow holes under the rim and in the handles. The centre of the tray is engraved with armorials. Heraldry: Arms, supporters and motto beneath an earl’s coronet: BRUCE quartering BRUDENELL for Charles Brudenell-Bruce (1773-1856) as 2nd Earl of Ailesbury, later 1st Marquess of Ailesbury, impaling HILL, for his first wife, the Hon. Henrietta Maria Hill (c.1773-1831). Scratch weight: None
Full description
This tray is one of two bought by the 2nd Earl of Ailesbury. The first, which appears to be identical in style, was also made by Paul Storr for Rundells but five years earlier in 1814/5. It was in the Lillian and Morrie Moss Collection before being sold by Garrards in 1981, and subsequently by Koopman Rare Art. [1] The engraved armorials on both salvers may be attributed to the workshop of Walter Jackson who was principal engraver to the Royal Goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Rundell. Jackson was apprenticed to John Thompson of Gutter Lane. On the death of his master in 1815 he took over the business and took Samuel Jackson (possibly his nephew) as an apprentice. Walter was made a liveryman of the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1824 and died in 1834. Samuel became free in 1822 and continued the business. Vine leaf and grape borders, made by casting the individual parts and soldering them to tendril-like wires and a central twisted wire behind the back of the border, were used extensively in the first two decades of the 18th century on silver made for Rundells by Benjamin Smith or Paul Storr. These borders appear on dessert stands such as the pair owned by Lord Fairhaven (NT516513) as well as on salvers, coasters and baskets. The 1st Marquess of Ormonde had a set of three trays, ranging in size, and engraved by Jackson with his armorials in flamboyant ermine mantling. [2] Other trays with similar borders but often with different handles or feet are in the Gilbert Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (accession number: LOAN:GILBERT.834-2008) [3]; The Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art, New York (Accession Number: 1977.436.3); and The National Gallery of Victoria, Australia (accession number: D65-1978). Notes [1] Morrie A Moss: The Lillian and Morrie Moss Collection of Paul Storr Silver, 1972, pp 240-241, plate 178 [2] Charles Oman: English Engraved Silver 1150-1900, 1978, p 123–6 [3] Timothy Schroder: The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, 1988, pp. 342–345, no. 91 [4] Michael Clayton The Collector’s Dictionary of Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, 1971, pp 326–7, plate 46 [5] Vanessa Brett: Sotheby’s Directory of Silver, 1985, plate 1119 [6] Lyon & Turnbull auction of The Chen Collection, 23 November 2008, lot 169 Heraldry described by Gale Glynn The arms are those of Charles Brudenell-Bruce (1773-1856) as 2nd Earl of Ailesbury, later 1st Marquess of Ailesbury, and his first wife, the Hon. Henrietta-Maria Hill (c.1773-1831), daughter of Noel Hill, 1st Baron Berwick of Attingham whom he married in 1793. After a private education upon leaving Leyden University he embarked on a Grand Tour. In 1791 when Lady Malmesbury met him in Italy she described the then Lord Bruce as ‘quite Lord Ailesbury just out of the shell - which, by the by, is no bad comparison, for they are like unfledged turkeys’. She crossed his path again soon afterward and deemed him ‘a sad goose, but a good humoured creature and so desperately in love with the Duchesse de Fleury it is quite melancholy. Lord Malmesbury says he is in love like a rabbit with a bunch of parsley’. However his romantic prospects changed dramatically when he rescued the Hon. Henrietta Maria Hill from a serious riding accident when her horse bucked. They were married in Italy in 1793. Horace Walpole’s assessment of him as, ‘a formal, dull, man, totally ignorant of and unversed in the world, and a Tory; very unexceptionable in character.’ is a less sympathetic assessment than that of Lady Malmesbury. Upon the young couple’s return to England his father had him returned to Parliament in the House of Commons for the family controlled seat the borough of Marlborough as soon as he was of age. He remained a Member of Parliament until his father’s death in 1814 when he inherited the earldom and thereby a seat in the House of Lords. He does not appear to have been particularly active or reliable in his parliamentary career. Both he and his father thought the family might be rewarded with a marquessate for support of the Portland administration of 1807-1809, for which he applied, but one was not forthcoming. The 2nd Earl was finally rewarded with the title Marquess of Ailesbury in the Coronation honours of George IV in 1821 - which may not be unconnected with the Trial of Queen Caroline where he is quite prominently included in the painting of this subject by Sir George Hayter (NPG999). The engraving shows an earl’s rather than a marquess’s coronet so can be placed within a narrow date band of 1818-1821, the date of the tray and the period before he was created a marquess. The Marquess’s first wife died in 1831 and subsequently he remarried. However, fortunately the magnificent engraving remained unaltered. The 4th Marquess, George William Thomas Brudenell-Bruce (1863-1894) was a compulsive gambler both before and after he inherited the title. The estate was almost bankrupted and all the property in Yorkshire was sold for nearly £175,000 to meet one round of debts. The Savernake estates in Wiltshire along with post of Hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest were saved after sustained legal action which may have protected the movable family assets at Tottenham House, Wiltshire, along with the long life of 1st Marquess’s second wife who died in 1893.
Provenance
Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury (1773–1856) Huttlestone Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) bequeathed by Lord Fairhaven to the National Trust along with the house and the rest of the contents. The National Trust .
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, the Fairhaven Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
On the underside of the tray: Hallmarks: ‘PS’ for Paul Storr*, lion passant (sterling), leopard’s head (London), ‘c’ (date letter for 1818/9) and monarch’s head (duty mark) *Arthur Grimwade: London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, 1990, no 2235, p 162 On the border’s L-shaped flange: ‘PS’ for Paul Storr, lion passant and monarch’s head On the underside of the tray: Retailer/manufacturer’s stamp: ‘RUNDELL BRIDGE ET RUNDELL AURIFICES REGIS ET PRINCIPIS WILLIAE REGENTIS BRITANNIAS’ AND ‘Rundell’ On the border’s L-shaped flange: Retailer/manufacturer’s stamp: ‘452’ On the border’s L-shaped flange: Old NT inventory mark: AA/S/13
Makers and roles
Paul Storr (1771-1844), goldsmith