Prize cup
Thomas Herring
Category
Silver
Date
1773 - 1774
Materials
Silver goblet.
Measurements
19.3 x 18.4 x 11.4 cm; 575 g (weight)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire
NT 516504
Summary
An agricultural prize cup, silver (sterling), mark of Thomas Heming, London, 1773/4. The deep vase-shaped cup and its trumpet-shaped stem are raised. The rim of the foot has a gadrooned border, and sits on a narrow, applied foot ring. Between the stem and the body is a moulded knop. Applied to the body are two cast and chased handles in the form of rams’ heads. Engraved on one side of the cup are a coat of arms and supporters beneath a ribbon inscribed: ‘EARL POWIS REWARD OF INDUSTRY’. The opposite side is engraved with a rural scene of a cow eating a turnip in a field with a harrow and plough, underneath a ribbon inscribed “SUCCESS TO AGRICULTURE’. Scratch weight: None Heraldry: It is clear from the inscription that the cup relates to George Henry Arthur Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis (1755-1801), however, the engraver has mistakenly depicted the arms of the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery. This is understandable, as late eighteenth and early nineteenth century peerages are not consistent in their representation of supporters (figures either side of a shield). Three branches of the Herbert family, who had three different earldoms, used very similar coats of arms: 1. The earldoms of Pembroke (created 1551) and Montgomery (created 1605) descended in 1650 to the Earls of Pembroke (i.e. one family with two earldoms). Their arms are on the cup. 2. The earldom of Powis created 1748. The inscription on the cup connects to this family. 3. The earldom of Carnarvon created 1793, the arms differenced with a crescent. Unconnected to the cup. The supporters are the distinguishing feature between the arms of the earldoms of Pembroke and Montgomery, and those of Powis. Pembroke and Montgomery have a panther dexter and a lion sinister, both with a ducal coronet as a collar. Powis should use two lions, sometimes gorged (i.e. collared).
Full description
It appears that this cup was repurposed within the lifetime of the 2nd Earl of Powis. The metal behind the engraved vignette is thin and there are faint signs of previous engraving. The cup is too large to have been a drinking goblet, so it is possible that the ram’s mask handles are original and that it was always an agricultural prize, but was given new engraving sometime between 1773 and 1801. HERALDRY At the time this cup was made George Herbert, the 2nd Earl, was only eighteen and had succeeded to the earldom in the previous year. He made a Grand Tour to Italy 1775-6. Agricultural prize cups may well have been an estate tradition, and it is possible that the cup was neither chosen nor presented by the Earl himself, as he does not appear to have taken much interest in his property. John Byng, a visitor in 1784, ascribes its neglected state to his time spent "in the prodigalities of London and in driving high phaetons up St James's Street." At a later visit (1793) he wrote: "The present (grandly-descended peer) is a mean silly man, the bubble of his mistress (and of his steward consequently) who rarely comes here, to sneak for about a day or two". The Earl’s father, Henry Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Powis (1703-72) sold their main country home, Oakly Park to Lord Clive (Clive of India) in 1771, and moved to Powis Castle in Montgomeryshire. In 1784 his daughter, Henrietta, married Lord Clive’s eldest son, Edward. When the 2nd Earl died unmarried in 1801, his titles became extinct. However, in 1804 the Earldom of Powis was recreated in favour of the late 2nd Earl’s brother-in-law (Lady Henrietta’s husband), Edward Clive, who became the 1st Earl of Powis (third creation). 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)
Marks and inscriptions
On the rim: Hallmarks: ‘s’ (1773/4), leopard’s head (London), lion passant (sterling), and ‘TH’ (Thomas Heming*) *Arthur Grimwade: London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, London, 1990, p 270, no 3228 On the underside of the foot: Old NT Inventory Number: ‘AA/S/113’ On the underside of the foot: Current NT Inventory Number: ‘516504.1’
Makers and roles
Thomas Herring, goldsmith