Cup and cover
Thomas Pitts
Date
1761 - 1762
Materials
Silver, sterling
Measurements
40 x 34.3 x 17.4 cm; 2575 g (weight)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 516447
Summary
A two-handled cup and cover, silver-gilt (sterling), mark of Thomas Pitts I, London 1761/2 The baluster-shaped cup is raised, embossed and chased with four panels of spiral fluting, festoons and sprays of flowers, vine leaves and bunches of grapes. On one side a rococo cartouche contains an engraved coat of arms and the inscription ‘Charles Delaet Esq of Potterells’. The opposite side is embossed and chased with a tall vase of vine leaves and grapes. The cast triple-scrolled handles are capped with flowers and engraved with bands of scales. The spreading circular foot is raised, embossed and chased with panels of flowers between spiral fluting. It is soldered to a low undecorated foot ring. The domed cover is similarly decorated and has a cast finial formed as a Bacchic cherub holding a bunch of grapes aloft. The cover’s flange is engraved ‘In Memoriam Rog¯ Coningsbye Ma¯ Coningsbye Cath¯ Dell Mar¯ Dell Hon¯ Car¯ Yorke S Hucks Mar¯ Browne Iac¯ Vice Com¯ Grunston extrema amicitrae pignora in unum collegit C.D.' (a raised dash indicates that the engraved name has been abbreviated). Heraldry: The arms and inscription are for Charles DELAET Esq of Potterells. Names on the flange of the cover are identified below. Hallmarks: Fully marked on the base of the cup within the foot ring and on the flange of the cover: lion passant (sterling), leopard’s head (London), ‘TP’ (Thomas Pitts*), and ‘f’ (1761/2)* Arthur Grimwade: ‘London Goldsmiths 1697-1837’, 1990, p 204, no 2875 Scratch weight: None Measurements: height of the cup and cover: 40 cm to the top of the finial, 28.6 cm to the top of a handle, 27.7 cm to the top of the rim; width: 34.3 cm across the handles, 16.2 cm diameter of the bowl, 13.8 cm diameter of the foot ring; cover alone: height: 13.8 cm; diameter; 17.4 cm diameter.
Full description
HERALDRY The coat of arms appears to be unrecorded in printed sources but is undoubtedly for, or assumed by, Charles Delaet, whose name and place of abode are engraved on the body of this cup. The flange of the cover bears a series of names and the identification of several of them indicates a tight-knit social circle of relations, neighbours and close friends. It may represent a tontine, or simply a commemoration. The parish of North Mimms [now Mymms], Herts, in which Potterells lay, was characterised by an unusual number of country houses. Now demolished, the building was in the last stages of dereliction when the Victoria and Albert Museum mounted the exhibition 'The Destruction of the English Country House’ in 1973. The close relationship between some of those named on the cup is emphasised by the fact that Potterells became the Coningsbye’s (Coningsby) main seat when they sold North Mimms Park in 1658, and so it remained until 1753, when it was left jointly to two cousins, Charles Delaet and Catherine Dell, with remainder to Charles Delaet. The death of Catherine Dell in 1769, when Charles Delaet became the sole owner, is recorded on the cup. He died in 1792, leaving property in Hertfordshire and Middlesex to his friend Justinian Casamajor of High Canons in the neighbouring parish of Shenley, whose third son, William Charles, was a godson of Delaet and eventually inherited the property. NAMES: Rog Coningsbye. Almost certainly Roger, son of Roger Coningsby of Potterells, who married Mary, daughter of Humphrey Fish. He was buried at North Mimms 10 September 1753. Ma Coningsbye. Almost certainly Mary, mother of Roger Coningsbye (above) who died in 1743, having had a long widowhood. Married in 1683, her only daughter Mary died in 1707, the same year as her husband. Cath Dell. Catherine, co-inheritor of Potterells with Charles Delaet (see above). Hon Car Yorke. The Hon. Charles Yorke (1722-70), second son of 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor. Called to the Bar 1746, described by Horace Walpole as ‘a young lawyer of good parts, but precise and affected’. In January 1770, as his father before him, he was appointed Lord Chancellor with a patent to create him a peer by the title of Baron Morden, but he died three days later at the age of 48, before the patent was completed. He lived at Tyttenhanger Park, near St. Albans, Herts, which had passed to his heiress wife Catherine, née Freeman. There is currently no information on the remaining four names: Ma Dell, a relation of Catherine Dell; S Hucks; Mar Browne Iac; Vice Com Grunston. The sequence of the names is curious in that it does not read alphabetically or chronologically in order of death. It is possible that those with ties of blood or marriage supersede bonds of friendship. The hallmark year (1761/2) does not accord with key moments of the inheritance of Potterells by Charles Delaet or death of one of the Coningsbys, the previous owners, or that of the co-inheritor Catherine Dell. The cup may well have been a second-hand purchase after her death. Jane Ewart, 2025 Heraldry by Gale Glynn.
Provenance
(Urban) Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven (1896-1966) bequeathed by Lord Fairhaven to the National Trust along with the house and the rest of the contents
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, the Fairhaven Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Thomas Pitts, goldsmith