Queen Charlotte’s kettle on stand
Thomas Heming (fl. 1745-1795)
Category
Silver
Date
1767 - 1768
Materials
Silver
Measurements
34.7 x 21.2 x 16.9 cm; 1590 g (Weight)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 516468
Summary
A kettle on stand, silver-gilt (sterling), and wood, mark of Thomas Heming, London, 1767/8.The raised pear-shaped kettle has a cast and seamed swan’s neck spout and a narrow loop handle. Cast shells support the hinges for the handle; the top of which is encased in wood carved to form a wide scroll-shaped grip. Engraved round the upper body, either side of the spout, and on the spout are borders or sprays of flowers and scrolls. The raised circular cover is dished between the rim and slightly domed centre, with a deep flange soldered underneath. A border of rococo scrolls is engraved round the fluted wood knop, which attaches with a screw with silver-gilt ball-shaped head, and secures underneath the cover with a nut. The stand is formed of three scroll brackets with pad feet, rising to a circular ring to support the kettle. Soldered to the brackets is a triangular burner raised from sheet metal, with incurved sides and scalloped lower edge. Both the brackets and burner are engraved with scrolling foliage and flowers. The circular cover for the burner is dished. Soldered to its centre is a flared nozzle round the vertical tube to hold the wick. Heraldry: Engraved on the body, cover, and burner: ‘CR’ beneath royal crown for QUEEN CHARLOTTE (1744-1818), wife of George III. Engraved on the body: ‘L/ from/ G/ 27 April 1882’; both cyphers beneath royal coronets for LEOPOLD, DUKE OF ALBANY (1853-84) and PRINCE GEORGE (1865-1936), later GEORGE V. Engraved on the bases of the kettle and burner, and inside both covers: ‘M’ beneath a royal coronet for PRINCESS MARY (1867-1953), later Queen, wife of George V. Hallmarks: Fully marked on the base of the kettle and burner: lion passant (sterling), leopard’s head (London), ‘m’ (1767/8), and ‘TH’ (Thomas Heming*); part marked on the flange of the kettle’s cover and the burner: ‘TH’, and lion passant. *Arthur Grimwade: London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, London, 1990, p 270, no 3828 Scratch weight: None
Full description
Thomas Heming was the son of Richard Heming, a mercer of Ludlow, Shropshire. In 1738 he was apprenticed to Edward Boddington and immediately turned over to the Huguenot silversmith, Peter Archambo, whose family arrived in England in 1687. Heming was made free in 1746. Just twelve years later he was making silverware of exceptional design and quality for James Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (1713-1792), described by James Lomax as ‘possibly some of the most appealing silver of their date to be found anywhere’. [1] The Earl of Bute was a great friend of Frederick, Prince of Wales. On the Prince’s death he was appointed tutor to his son, George, who became King George III in 1760. Doubtless due to the Earl’s influence, that same year Heming was appointed goldsmith in ordinary to the King. He registered his third hallmark; this time with his initials beneath a crown. He was the first working goldsmith with the title after a succession of banker-goldsmiths, who sub-contracted their orders to craftsmen whose marks can be identified on the objects they supplied to the royal household or for diplomatic postings. The young King embarked on expanding the royal collection by commissioning a dinner service to be used at his and the Queen’s coronation in September 1761. The ‘Coronation Service’ included eight dozen gilt plates at 11s 3d per ounce, dishes and tureens at 15s 9d per ounce, and a great ‘epargne’ of 288 oz at 16s 9d per ounce. Although some of the items were not ready in time, the whole service was used at the ‘extremely magnificent banquet’ held in 1768 in honour of Christian VII of Denmark. The Queen also received a new gilt toilet service costing over £530 in 1762. [2] Much of the silver remains in the Royal Collection, and includes a tea kettle with pear-shaped body, similar to that at Anglesey Abbey, but made a few years earlier. [3] Arthur Grimwade wrote that ‘some of his earlier surviving pieces in the Royal collection show a French delicacy of taste and refinement of execution which is unquestionably inherited from his master Archambo.’Heming remained the King’s principal goldsmith until 1782, ‘when after a witch-hunt into his charges he was supplanted by Jefferys & Jones’. [4] [1] James Lomax: Royalty and silver: The role of the Jewel House in the eighteenth century, The Silver Society Journal, Number 11, Autumn 1999, pp133-139 [2] James Lomax: Royalty and silver, ibid. [3] Royal Collection Trust, Tea kettle, 1761/3: RCIN 49128 [4] Arthur Grimwade: London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, London, 1990, p 542 Heraldry The contemporary ‘CR’ cypher beneath the royal crown found on each piece of this kettle and stand is for Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. The kettle’s subsequent ownership in the royal family can be traced through initials, coronets and dates. Upon the death of Queen Charlotte her four younger surviving daughters became her heirs, and they were able to choose from their mother’s possessions. In doing so, the value of items would have been taken into account, ensuring the princesses’ inheritances were of equal value. In 1819 Christie’s held a series of ‘anonymous’ auctions, and it is through this mechanism that the princes (who were their father’s heirs) acquired plate previously belonging to the Queen. Some of these pieces have surfaced at subsequent sales by the dukes’ executors or the dukes’ descendants. The path taken by this piece, which seems to have returned to the Crown, is not clear. (See 516523) The kettle appears to have been a gift from Prince George, Duke of York (later George V) to his uncle, Leopold Duke of Albany (1853-84), eighth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who married Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmon on 27 April 1882. He suffered from haemophilia and died less than two years after his marriage leaving two children, one a posthumous son. The kettle seems then to have reverted to royal holdings. In addition to the initial and coronet for Prince George, Duke of York, every part of the kettle also bears the letter ‘M’ beneath a royal coronet for his wife Princess Mary of Teck as Duchess of York. Having previously been engaged to his elder brother Prince Albert (who died unexpectedly in 1892), she married Prince George in 1893. The engraving must date between 1893 and 1901, because after they became Prince and Princess of Wales in 1901 on the death of Queen Victoria, a crown with a single arch would have been used in lieu of a coronet. Jane Ewart, 2025 Heraldry by Gale Glynn
Provenance
HRH Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) HRH Leopold, Duke of Albany, (1853-1884) HRH Princess Mary of Tek as Duchess of York, later Queen, wife of George V (1936-1911) (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. National Trust
Makers and roles
Thomas Heming (fl. 1745-1795), goldsmith