Covered Cup and Stand

Artist David Willaume I (English, born France, 1658 - 1741)

Date1700-1701

MediumBritannia Standard silver with mercury gilding

DimensionsOverall (A,B): 5 1/4 × 5 1/8 × 3 1/2 inches (13.34 × 13.03 × 8.89 cm)
C: 5 inches (12.7 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: the Lillian M. Diveley Fund

Object numberF92-19/2 A-C

Markings(On covers, cups, and stands): Maker's marks (Flanges of lids; sides of cups; under rims of stands): date letter for year 1700/1701; Brittania marks (figure of Brittania; lion's head erased)

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionSilver-gilt two-handled cylindrical cups tapering in at bottom above attached circular feet; domed covers and circular stands on cylindircal outward-flaring bases pierced at bottom above attached footring; foliate "cut card" (applied) decoration on bottom of stands, around base of cups and on covers; gadrooning on rim of stands, covers and on foot of cups; foliate engraving around well of stands and rim of cups; elaborate scrolling of hounds, stags and leaves on well of stands and around center of cups.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The British Red Cross Society Exhibition, R & S. Garrard & Co., Ltd., London, June 7-18, 1915, no. 63.

Gallery Label

These gilded, covered cups and stands, part of a set of six, were probably used to serve hot chocolate and would have been objects of great luxury often made to mark special occasions. The foliage on the bases and the lids of the cups is an example of cut-card work, a technique in which forms are cut from sheet silver and applied to the body of the object. This technique, as well as casting, engraving and a refined sense of design, were brought to English 17th-century silver production by the Huguenots, French Protestant refugees. David Willaume I was among the most influential Huguenot goldsmiths in London. Although the engraver is unknown, the delicate and elaborate design derives from French sources.

Provenance

John Crewe, 1st Baron Crewe (1742-1829), Cheshire, England;

John Crewe, 2nd Baron Crewe (1772-1835), Liège, Belgium;

The Hon. Annabella Hungerford Crewe (1814-1874) Cheshire, England;

Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, Marquess of Crewe KG PC FSA (1858-1945);

Inherited by his daughter Lady Helen Cynthia Colville, (née Milnes, later Crewe-Milnes, 1884-1968), 1945-1968;

Inherited by her son Sir John Rupert "Jock" Colville, CB, CVO (1915-1987), 1968-1987;

Inherited by his daughter Mrs. Elizabeth Harriet Bowes-Lyon (née Colville, b. 1952), 1987-1989;

Sold by her at English and Continental Silver, Portrait Miniatures and Objects of Vertu, Sotheby’s, London, October 24, 1989, lot 521[1];

With Koopman Rare Art, London;

With Asprey Ltd., London by 1992;

Purchased from Asprey Ltd., by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1992.

NOTES

[1] Lot 521 consisted of six cup and stands, split up sometime after this sale; the museum owns two.

Published References

English and Continental Silver, Portrait Miniatures and Objects of Vertu (London: Sotheby’s, 1989), 162 (repro.).

Newsletter, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (April 1993): 2 (repro.).

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