Caster
Paul de Lamerie (1688 - London 1751)
Category
Silver
Date
1723 - 1724
Materials
Silver
Measurements
15.7 x 6.5 x 6.5 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 852084.1
Summary
One of six Britannia silver casters from an epergne, by Paul de Lamerie, London, 1723/4. Of two sizes, this being one of the four smaller. The baluster-shaped caster is entirely octagonal in plan, the sides alternately incurved and straight from the foot through to the piercings of the cover. The upper part of the cover is also octagonal but without any incurving. The spreading foot is cast in one piece and the body in two vertical halves, with chased gadrooning on the foot and at the waist. The high-domed cover has a seamed bezel and a cast rim with chased gadroon border. Above are eight panels soldered together, pierced and engraved with alternating designs of foliate strapwork and trelliswork with C-scroll oval bust medallions. The busts represent classical deities, one bearing the crescent of Diana and another in armour and a helmet probably being Mars. The cover culminates in a cast and chased gadroon cap and a baluster finial. Heraldry: re-engraved c.1751 on one of the flat sides above the waist with the quartered shield of the 2nd Earl of Bristol in an ermine mantling and beneath an earl’s coronet.
Full description
For a full account see the master entry.
Provenance
Nicholas Leke, 4th Earl of Scarsdale (d. 1736); 1st Earl of Bristol (bought, as part of an epergne, 1737, at the Scarsdale sale); by descent to the 4th Marquess; accepted by the Treasury in lieu of death duties in 1956 and transferred to the National Trust.
Credit line
Ickworth, the Bristol Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
On underside: Fully marked with maker’s mark ‘LA’ star and closed crown above fleur-de-lis below (third mark, unregistered – see Susan Hare (ed.), Paul de Lamerie, At the Sign of the Golden Ball, London, 1990, p. 29), Britannia, lion’s head erased, date letter ‘H’. On underside: Scratchweight: ‘No 1 [/] 14=8’ On the top of the base and the neck of the lid: One punched notch on each to identify the correct pairing.
Makers and roles
Paul de Lamerie (1688 - London 1751) , goldsmith