Four small oval dishes with shell handles
probably Frederick Kandler
Category
Silver
Date
circa 1751
Materials
Silver
Measurements
3.5 x 37.5 x 24.4 cm (No. 1)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 852096
Summary
Four small oval dishes, silver, probably by Frederick Kandler, London, circa 1751 and re-formed from earlier pieces. The oval dishes, which are raised, have shallow wells and broad rims with shaped borders. The cast gadrooning with palm leaves is applied as are the cast and chased shell handles. Heraldry: The rim of each dish is engraved with the quartered shield, supporters and motto of the 2nd Earl of Bristol in an ermine mantling and beneath an earl’s coronet. Hallmarks: There are no marks contemporary with the pieces as they now are. No. 1 has old marks on the underside of the right hand shell, a makers mark obscured by reworking, leopard’s head erased, date letter ‘L’ for 1726 and Britannia. No. 2 has a transposed set of marks introduced on the underside of the right-hand shell of which only two are legible, the leopard’s head erased and the date letter ‘g’ for 1702. No. 3 has a transposed set of marks on the underside of the left shell, one mark not legible, leopard’s head erased and date letter ‘L’ for 1726. No. 4 has old marks, not transposed, on the underside of the left shell, maker’s mark ‘SA’ with crown and cup above and pellet below (Arthur Grimwade, London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, 1990, no. 2469) for John Hugh Le Sage, Britannia, leopard’s head erased and date letter F for 1721. Scratchweights: ‘N1 [/] 34=6’, ‘N2 [/] 34=7’, ‘N3 [/] 34=13’ and ‘N4 [/] 34=19’
Full description
For general comments on this form of oval, shell-handled dish see NT 852080. These four are equivalent in size to the circular, octagonal and lobed dishes (NT 852121, 852115 & 852110) and would have been used in the same fashion during the meal, around the main focus of the soup, roasts and fish. They might have been particularly reserved for fare that was to be removed at the end of the first or second course, given the manipulability provided by the handles, and also have proved suitable for such elongated hors d’oeuvres as Vincent La Chapelle’s ‘Eels glaz’d with an Italian sauce’.[1] As with the round dishes predominant in the early eighteenth century, these oval versions were provided in several sizes of which this was the smallest (see NT 852080 for the large and NT 852095.1-2 & 7-8 for the middle sizes). Three were made from significantly larger old dishes, as proved by former setting-out punchmarks which are substantially off-centre.[2] The redundant hallmarks, both preserved and transposed, are clearly intended to deceive and thus to avoid duty. They are likely to be from the plate of Lord Hervey, as given to him by his father in 1720 and from his own subsequent purchases (see NT 852124). James Rothwell, Decorative Arts Curator February 2021 [Adapted from James Rothwell, Silver for Entertaining: The Ickworth Collection, London 2017, cat. 39, p. 120.] Notes: [1] Vincent La Chapelle, The Modern Cook, 1736, plate VII. [2] Analysis of dish no. 1 by XRF carried out March, 2015 confirmed that the body is of Britannia standard at 97.72% and the border is sterling at 94.44%.
Provenance
George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol (1721-75); by descent to the 4th Marquess of Bristol (1863-1951); 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)
Makers and roles
probably Frederick Kandler, goldsmith