Summary

A mixed mid-eighteenth century service of Hanoverian pattern flatware consisting of twenty nine table spoons, four sauce spoons, two marrow spoons, nine table forks, six ragout spoons and a pair of soup ladles. The twenty-nine table spoons are all sterling silver and by Dru Drury I (no. 1), Ebenezer Coker (nos. 2-6), Paul Callard (nos. 7-18), and (probably) Thomas and William Chawner (nos. 19-29), London, 1745/6, 1751/2, 1758/9 & 1766/7. Each spoon is forged from a single piece of silver. It is of the Hanoverian single-drop pattern with raised egg-shaped bowl, plain, tapering stem and single drop at the junction with the bowl. The terminal is upturned on the bowl side with a slight rib. All are engraved on the reverse of the head of the stem, no. 1 with the Hervey crest beneath an earl’s coronet, nos. 2-18 with the quartered arms of the Hanoverian monarchs (pre-1801) within the Garter and beneath an imperial crown flanked by the initials GR, and nos. 19-29 with the royal crest of a lion passant guardant imperially crowned within the Garter and beneath an imperial crown. The four sauce spoons (nos. 30-33) are sterling silver, by Paul Callard, London, probably 1758/9. Their form and appearance are the same as the table spoons except for their curved stems, designed to conform to the associated sauce boats of 1758/9 by Simon Le Sage (NT 852122). The upturned terminals with slight ribs are engraved on the opposite side to the bowl with the quartered arms of the Hanoverian monarchs (pre-1801) within the Garter and beneath an imperial crown flanked by the initials GR. The two marrow spoons (nos. 34-5) are sterling silver, by Paul Callard, London, 1755/6. They are forged from a single rod of silver and are double ended with two concave recessions, one long and thin and the other wider and shorter. They have no ornamentation apart from single drops at the junctions of the stems with the backs of the large scoops. On the back of each of the large scoops are engraved the quartered arms of the Hanoverian monarchs (pre-1801) within the Garter and beneath an imperial crown flanked by the initials GR. The nine table forks (nos. 36-44) are sterling silver, by Paul Callard, London, 1758/9. They are forged from single pieces of silver and are of the Hanoverian pattern with four tines. The stems are plain and tapered and the upturned terminals are engraved on the reverse with the quartered arms of the Hanoverian monarchs (pre-1801) within the Garter and beneath an imperial crown flanked by the initials GR. The six ragout spoons (nos. 45-50) are sterling silver, by Paul Callard, London, 1757/8 (x 2) and 1758/9 (x 4). They are forged from single pieces of silver, are of the Hanoverian single drop pattern with raised egg-shaped bowls, plain, tapering stems and single drops at the junction with the bowl. The terminals are upturned on the bowl side with slight ribs. Each terminal is engraved on the opposite side to the bowl with the quartered arms of the Hanoverian monarchs (pre-1801) within the garter and beneath an imperial crown flanked by the initials GR. The two soup ladles (nos. 51-2) are sterling silver, by Paul Callard, London, 1758/9. The almost hemispherical bowls are raised and soldered to the tapering stems which are of the Hanoverian pattern with an upturned terminal and a single drop at the junction with the bowl. The underside of each terminal is engraved with the quartered arms of the Hanoverian monarchs (pre-1801) within the garter and beneath an imperial crown flanked by the initials GR. For the hallmarks and measurements see the entries for the individual items.

Full description

The entire service is of the Hanoverian, single drop pattern [1] which was standard for the mid eighteenth century. Associated with it are four additional ragout spoons (NT 853248), six table knives (NT 852203.5-10) and four salt spoons (NT 852074.13-16). It represents the remnant of a much larger service, or more probably services, accumulated by George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol (1721-75) during the course of his life. TABLE SPOONS AND FORKS The table spoon by Dru Drury I of 1745/6 (no. 1) is the only survivor at Ickworth of a service of spoons and forks that probably extended to seven dozen to match the quantity of plates commissioned c.1751 (NT 852124). Whether some had been acquired in the mid 1740s or they were merely from stock and formed part of the 1751–2 order from Frederick Kandler is not known. Three dozen matching table forks, spoons and knives (for the latter see NT 852203.5-10) came to Lord Bristol in 1758 as part of his allocation of ambassadorial plate. He would have needed such a large overall number as the English custom was to change them each time a plate was removed,[2] and he had ten dozen plates. For his cutlery and flatware the Earl did not expend any more than he needed to on fashion, sticking to the simplest of forms. With his shrewd assessment of where display would count he must have decided that the diner’s eye would not be sufficiently resting on the implements they were using and would be drawn more by the dishes and tureens containing the fine food they were feasting upon. It was, anyway, very unusual for more decoration to be applied to knives and flatware at this time in England, an exception being the early 1740s table service of the 4th Earl of Chesterfield, made partly in Paris and partly by Paul Crespin in London.[3] The eleven table spoons of 1766/7 by Thomas and William Chawner were made to match the existing spoons (cat. nos. 26 and 69) and were either an augmentation or a replacement for losses that might have been endured in the rapid exit from Spain in 1762. The marks have been attributed to the Chawners by Arthur Grimwade and are very likely to be theirs but that cannot be proved for certain as the result of the loss of the register for 1758 to 1773.[4] By 1811 there were forty-eight of this pattern of knife and fork remaining, and thirty-six spoons. They had diminished to twenty-four, nine and twenty-seven by 1951.[5] All the surviving forks and spoons and six of the knives came to the National Trust in 1956. SAUCE SPOONS These spoons have curved stems in order to rest comfortably in the associated sauce boats of 1758/9 by Simon Le Sage (NT 852122) with which they were delivered as part of Lord Bristol’s ambassadorial allocation of plate. Specific flatware for serving sauces seems from an analysis of the Wickes ledgers and Jewel Office records to have emerged in the 1740s, amongst the earliest references being the receipt by Lord Tyrawley and the 4th Earl of Holderness of sauce spoons with their boats on becoming ambassadors in 1744.[6] George Wickes supplied ten spoons with the future 1st Duke of Leinster’s ten sauce boats in 1747 [7] and equal numbers of boats and spoons were the norm, the Dowager Duchess of Somerset receiving four of each in 1749.[8] Ladles were also an option, the Earl of Albemarle receiving four on going to Paris in 1749, and they gradually began to supplant spoons.[9] Whereas in 1758 and in 1760 both Lord Bristol and the 9th Earl of Kinnoull, the latter as ambassador to Portugal, chose sauce spoons, in 1762 the 2nd Earl of Egremont as Secretary of State, Sir John Cust as Speaker and the 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire as ambassador to Russia all had ladles rather than spoons with their sauce boats.[10] Because such spoons can easily become detached from their boats, and even be straightened, it is rare to find a recorded pairing such as that at Ickworth surviving intact. There must, presumably, have been sauce spoons for Lord Bristol’s other eight sauce boats but they have not survived. MARROW SPOONS Silver marrow spoons, as these implements were commonly known until the mid nineteenth century and at Ickworth even beyond that,[11] probably came into being in the late seventeenth century. They were used to extract the marrow from the inside of bones, which was considered a delicacy and continued to be widely valued until the early twentieth century.[12] Lord Bristol acquired three with his ambassadorial plate but only two of them remained amongst the future 1st Marquess’s silver in 1826.[13] The other one probably found its way to Ireland with the Earl-Bishop and passed with his property there. The spoons would have been laid on the table by dishes containing meat on the bone, with the carving knives and forks. Given their date they must have been taken from stock in 1758. Paul Callard made most of Lord Bristol’s ambassadorial flatware and seems to have had a brief spell as a rival to Ebenezer Coker in the second half of the 1750s. RAGOUT SPOONS These ragout spoons are identical to those acquired by Lord Bristol in 1754 (NT 853248). See the entry relating to them for a discussion of the whole set. SOUP LADLES The simplicity of these ladles suggests that the tureens they accompanied, which have not survived, were also quite plain. They were certainly comparatively light at around 100 ounces – less than half the weight of the Kandler tureens. As Lord Bristol had already acquired such lavish plate in London and Turin it would appear that he decided to use part of his ambassadorial allowance to equip himself with a service for everyday use. Sir Benjamin Keene, the Earl’s predecessor, had had the same. As he wrote to Abraham Castres, the British Envoy in Lisbon, ‘I have plain plate of my own for 12 covers’ for daily use.[14] James Rothwell, Decorative Arts Curator January 2021 [Adapted from James Rothwell, Silver for Entertaining: The Ickworth Collection, London 2017, cat. 26, 63, 64, 66, 69, 70 & 83, pp. 104, 149-50, 152-4 & 172.] Notes: [1] Ian Pickford, Silver Flatware: English Irish and Scottish 1660-1980, 1983, pp. 84-5, fig. 90. [2] Madame van Muyden (ed.), A Foreign View of England in the Reigns of George I & George II: The Letters of Monsieur César de Saussure to his Family, 1902, p. 222. [3] Christopher Hartop, The Huguenot Legacy: English Silver 1680-1760, 1996, p. 101, ill. [4] Arthur Grimwade, London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, 1990, pp. 4-5. [5] Suffolk Record Office, HA 507/9/21, List of silver etc offered in lieu of death duties, c.1951, pp. 6 and 16. [6] The National Archives, LC 9/45, Jewel Office Delivery Book 1732–93, f. 92. In 1719 Lord Cartaret had received ‘Eight Sauce Spoones’ on going to Sweden as ambassador but their combined weight of 59oz 7dwt suggests they were ragout spoons rather than for use with sauce boats: LC 9/44, Jewel Office Delivery Book 1698–1732, f. 232. There are ladles of c.1740 by Paul de Lamerie associated with a pair of earlier sauce boats in the Gilbert Collection, see Timothy Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, 1988, cat. 53, pp. 214-7. [7] National Art Library, Garrard Ledgers, VAM 3 1747–50, f. 1. [8] Ibid., f. 86. [9] Jewel Office Delivery Book 1732–93 (see note 6), f. 108. [10] Ibid, ff. 165, 181 and 196. [11] Death Duties List c.1951 (see note 5), pp. 6 and 16. [12] G. Bernard Hughes, Small Antique Silverware, 1957, pp. 199-200 [13] Suffolk Record Office, 941/75/2, Bristol Plate List 1826-7, f. 3. [14] Sir Richard Lodge (ed.), Correspondence of Sir Benjamin Keene, 1935, p. 240.