censer
Censer
1760-1770 (made)
1760-1770 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
The Sardinian Embassy Plate
This censer forms part of a service made for Roman Catholic worship. The maker, Andrea Boucheron was a goldsmith from Turin who trained in Paris and worked at the court of Savoy from 1737, when he was appointed as goldsmith there. His work is strongly influenced by Paris fashions.
The Duchy of Savoy was represented in London by the Sardinian embassy in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The embassy chapel, with seven chaplains, was one of the most prestigious in London, and its services were open to the public. The survival of this altar service is a unique reminder of an openly practised form of Catholicism, from a time when the faith was severely restricted in England.
This censer forms part of a service made for Roman Catholic worship. The maker, Andrea Boucheron was a goldsmith from Turin who trained in Paris and worked at the court of Savoy from 1737, when he was appointed as goldsmith there. His work is strongly influenced by Paris fashions.
The Duchy of Savoy was represented in London by the Sardinian embassy in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The embassy chapel, with seven chaplains, was one of the most prestigious in London, and its services were open to the public. The survival of this altar service is a unique reminder of an openly practised form of Catholicism, from a time when the faith was severely restricted in England.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | censer (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Silver, raised, embossed and engraved |
Brief description | Silver, Turin, 1760-1770, unmarked but probably the workshop of Andrea Boucheron; engraved with the arms of the royal House of Savoy |
Physical description | Censer, silver, raised and embossed, and engraved with the arms of Carlo Emmanuele III, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy |
Dimensions |
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Marks and inscriptions | Engraved with the arms of Carlo Emmanuele III |
Gallery label |
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Credit line | Lent by the Church of St. Anselm and St. Cecilia, Kingsway, London |
Object history | This is part of a set of silver altar plate made in the royal workshops in Turin for the Sardinian Embassy Chapel near Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. The altar service originally included a chalice with paten, a ciborium, a monstrance, holy water bucket, sanctus bell and a set of six candlesticks (the latter survive today in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery). The chapel began to function in late June 1759, but was destroyed by fire in November 1759. Although it was rebuilt, it was once more destroyed during the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in June 1780. Curiously, there is no reference to the chapel plate in the surviving documentation that relates to the foundation of the chapel, or in the 1761 plans for its reconstruction, and its survival in such good condition suggests it must have been stored elsewhere. Subsequently the embassy chapel was replaced by the Roman Catholic church of St Anselm and St Cecilia, Kingsway, and the plate was transferred there. |
Historical context | Used between about 1760 and 1780 by the Catholic community which worshipped at the Sardinian Embassy Chapel, and subsequently by the Catholic congregation at St Anselm and St Cecilia, Kingsway. |
Association | |
Summary | The Sardinian Embassy Plate This censer forms part of a service made for Roman Catholic worship. The maker, Andrea Boucheron was a goldsmith from Turin who trained in Paris and worked at the court of Savoy from 1737, when he was appointed as goldsmith there. His work is strongly influenced by Paris fashions. The Duchy of Savoy was represented in London by the Sardinian embassy in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The embassy chapel, with seven chaplains, was one of the most prestigious in London, and its services were open to the public. The survival of this altar service is a unique reminder of an openly practised form of Catholicism, from a time when the faith was severely restricted in England. |
Bibliographic references |
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Collection | |
Accession number | LOAN:ST ANSELM.1 |
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Record created | November 21, 2005 |
Record URL |
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