Cup and cover
Samuel Courtauld I (1720 - 1765)
Category
Silver
Date
1752
Materials
Sterling silver
Measurements
32.4 x 31.2 x 15.0 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 516499
Summary
A two-handled cup and cover, silver (sterling), mark of Samuel Courtauld, London 1752/3. The baluster-shaped cup and cover are raised, with cast handles, finial and decoration. It stands on a cast circular foot decorated with a wide border of aquatic plants, a frog and two water snakes surrounded by elongated scrolls which slightly overlap the narrow foot ring. The short stem is decorated with rocaille work. The body of the cup is embossed and chased with vine leaves and applied with cast vine branches and grapes. Each side is embossed with a rococo cartouche: one engraved with a crest, the other with a script ‘K’ beneath a baron’s coronet. The two cast scroll handles are topped with scrolling acanthus leaves and attach to the body with stylised shells. The rim of the domed cover is applied with a broad gadroon border; a deep flange is soldered underneath. The cover, which rises to a dome, is embossed with vine leaves and grapes. The cast finial is formed as an openwork branch of three vine leaves and a bunch of grapes. Heraldry: The crest (out of a ducal coronet a demi lion rampant guardant double queued holding in the paw a fleur-de-lys) and initial ‘K’ beneath a baron’s coronet, have not been identified. Hallmarks: Fully marked on the base of the cup within the foot ring, and on the flange of the cover: leopard’s head (London), ‘r’ (1752/3), ‘SC’ (Samuel Courtauld I*), and lion passant (sterling) *Arthur Grimwade: London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, London, 1990, p 178, no 2489 Scratch weight: ‘92:5’ Troy ounces and pennyweights Current weight: 2842 g or 91:7 Troy ounces and pennyweights
Full description
Samuel (1720-1765) was the son and apprentice of the Augustine Courtauld. He grew up at the heart of London’s Huguenot community, mixing with the families of other refugees, particularly the goldsmiths. Upon his father’s retirement in 1746 he took over his business. Three years later he married Louisa Perina Ogier from Poitou, France. When Samuel died at the age of just 44 in 1765, Louisa continued the business with her husband’s former apprentice, George Cowles, registering a hallmark in their joint names, which lasted until she was joined in partnership by her son, Samuel Courtauld II, in 1777. Samuel Courtauld’s silver ranged from plain domestic items, such as gadroon bordered sauce boats and coffee pots, to large objects decorated with rococo ornament, including centrepieces, soup tureens and tea kettles on stands. Arthur Grimwade comments that his work ‘is characterized by a mild rococo taste, attractively executed, though without evidence of great individuality.’ [1] Certainly this cup and cover lack the flamboyance of design and confidence of execution demonstrated on the cups bearing the marks of Peter Taylor (516444) and Lewis Pantin (516498); although the handles appear to be cast in the same moulds as some used by Paul de Lamerie. [1] Arthur Grimwade: London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, London, 1990, p 475 HERALDRY The crest, and the initial and coronet, do not appear to be engraved by the same hand at the same time. There is no exact match for this crest in printed sources. There are a number of barons whose title begins with the initial K. 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 National Trust
Credit line
Anglesey Abbey, the Fairhaven Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Samuel Courtauld I (1720 - 1765), goldsmith