Four octagonal dishes and covers
probably Frederick Kandler
Category
Silver
Date
circa 1751 - circa 1758
Materials
Silver
Measurements
2.9 x 32.4 cm (dishes); 18.4 x 25.4 cm (covers)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 852115
Summary
Four octagonal dishes, probably by Frederick Kandler, London, circa 1751, and four associated octagonal dish covers, silver, probably London, circa 1758. The dishes are raised with shallow circular wells, broad rims and cast octagonal gadrooned borders with palm leaves at four of the angles and cast scallop shells with pearl bands and flanking foliate scrolls at the other four. The covers are raised and have stepped octagonal bases conforming to the dishes. The bases terminate in a chased band of gadrooning and the covers rise as circular convex domes to another chased gadroon band, then rise again in reverse form to an applied flat top plate, the joint concealed by a cast and seemed moulding. The cast and chased tendril handles are capped by single flowers and held on by silver bolts and nuts. 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. On the front of each cover are engraved the quartered arms of the Hanoverian monarchs (pre-1801) within the Garter and beneath an imperial crown flanked by the initials G R. Hallmarks: There are no marks on either the dishes or the covers. Scratchweights: Dishes - ‘N1 [/] 33=10’, ‘N2 [/] 34=16’, ‘N3 [/] 34=14’, ‘N4 [/] 34=9’ Covers - ‘Nº 1 = 31=3’; ‘No- 2 - 31=2’; ‘No = 3 32 = 5’; ‘Nº-4 – 32=0’
Full description
DISHES As with Ickworth’s large oval dishes (NT 852080), sauce boats (NT 852082) and salad dishes (NT 852062), these dishes have cast shells to unite them with the rest of the service. The borders, which are particularly finely modelled, derive from those which emerged in the mid 1740s and were most spectacularly employed on the Leinster dinner service supplied by George Wickes in 1747, though in that case combined with reeding rather than gadrooning.[1] Although often referred to as ‘second course dishes’ such a term seems only rarely to have been applied in the mid eighteenth century [2] and they would have been able to be used with the first, second or third courses, all of which needed subsidiary dishes, or hors d’oeuvres, on the table around the principal fare.[3] Hors d’oeuvres were described by Louis Liger in his 1711 publication, Les ménage des champs et le jardinier françois as being served ‘aux trois premiers services’ [4] and examples given by Vincent La Chapelle in 1736 for ‘a Supper of 15 or 16 Covers’ included ‘Mutton-Cutlets glaz’d with Endive’, ‘Larks the Moscovite way’ and ‘Fillets of Soles with Champain’.[5] Polygonal shapes had been present in English silver throughout the eighteenth century, and mixing circles, octagons and shaped ovals, as could Lord Bristol, would have greatly suited the rococo table. Three of the four dishes (nos. 1–3) have old setting-out marks well off-centre and thus are likely to have been made from significantly larger dishes turned in by the Earl. No attempt has been made here to disguise the fact that hallmarking has not occurred. COVERS The Jewel Office allocation in 1758 lists twenty dish covers as being delivered for Lord Bristol’s use in 1758 and of these only the eight now at Ickworth survive.[6] The absent twelve, which had gone by 1811,[7] are unlikely to have been part of the scheme to extract money for the excessive fashion cost of other items (see NT 852077) as they would have had to be specifically made for the dishes and to have matched the covers that do survive. Thus they could not easily have been taken from stock and then passed on to other clients once they had served their illicit purpose. They must therefore have been exchanged or lost at some point thereafter, or have been removed to Ireland by the Earl-Bishop and passed to the Bruce family. As they would have had to account for 935 ounces of silver they would have been for the larger sizes of dishes. The covers would have been in place at the start of the meal and have been removed when the tureens were taken away to be replaced with the next set of principal dishes. In the painting of the coronation banquet of Joseph II as King of the Romans in Frankfurt in 1764,[8] all the subsidiary tables are shown with their dishes still covered whereas at the high table the Imperial couple have commenced their meal and two attendants are removing the covers and passing them to footmen. As dishes did not rest on the table in the same fashion for service à la russe the need for covers waned during the nineteenth century and many must have been turned in to be melted, making them rare today. They did still come into their own at breakfast, however, and one can be seen in use at Ickworth alongside dishes by Paul Storr in a photograph of c.1870. Silver dish-covers were never commonplace in the aristocratic household anyway and many families had some or all of them in silvered brass or copper, or even as mere pewter. William Strode, for instance, acquired a ‘Brass Dish Cover Silver’d’ from Wickes and Netherton in 1753 for £2 including engraving (the same thing in silver, assuming a weight of 30 oz., would have cost at least £12) and the vastly wealthy Sir Jacob Downing, 4th Bt, when equipping himself with a dinner service in 1750, had seventeen pewter covers with his twenty silver dishes.[9] Lord Bristol may well have been thus equipped previously and have used the opportunity of the ambassadorial allocation to upgrade. For the contemporary circular dishes and covers see NT 852121.1 & 3. James Rothwell, Decorative Arts Curator February 2021 [Adapted from James Rothwell, Silver for Entertaining: The Ickworth Collection, London 2017, cat. 37 & 73, pp. 118 & 160-1.] Notes: [1] Elaine Barr, George Wickes, 1980, pp. 197-205, ill. [2] Three dishes of 1759 at Temple Newsam by William Reynolds or Reynoldson have been inscribed ‘2nd course’ on their undersides, probably contemporaneously. See James Lomax, British Silver at Temple Newsam and Lotherton Hall, 1992, cat. 85, pp. 94-5. I am grateful to the author for alerting me to this example. [3] Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, Savoring the Past, 1983, p. 140. [4] Marie-France Noël-Waldteuffel, ‘Manger à la cour: alimentation et gastronomie aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles’, in Versailles et les tables royales en Europe XVIIème–XIXème siècles (Paris, 1993), p. 76. [5] Vincent La Chapelle, The Modern Cook, 1736, vol. 1, plate VII. [6] The National Archives, LC 9/48, Jewel Office Accounts and Receipts Book 1728-67, ff. 166-8. [7] Suffolk Record Office, 941/75/1, list of plate of the 5th Earl (later 1st Marquess) of Bristol 1811-29. [8] Studio of Martin II Mytens, Schloss Schönbrunn, Austria. [9] National Art Library, Garrard Ledgers, VAM 5 1750–4, f. 110 and VAM 3 1747-50, f. 57.
Provenance
Dishes: 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. Covers: Jewel Office; allocated to George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol (1721-75) as Ambassador to Madrid 1758; discharged to Lord Bristol 9 April 1759; 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