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Christening cup and cover
Feline, Edward - Enlarge image
Christening cup and cover
- Place of origin:
London (made)
- Date:
1731 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Feline, Edward (made)
- Credit Line:
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
- Museum number:
LOAN:GILBERT.1:1 to 3-2014
- Gallery location:
Gold, Silver and Mosaics, Room 71, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries, case 1, shelf 3 []
This silver cup and cover was George II’s christening gift to his god-daughter Lady Emilia Lennox (1731-1814), daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Lennox (1701-1750), and wife of James, 20th Earl of Kildare (1722-1773). Born on 6 October 1731, Lady Emilia was baptised three weeks later at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, the parish church closest to the family’s London home, Richmond House, Whitehall. The inscription ‘Lady Emila Lenos October 25th 1731’ indicates that the vessel was presented a week before the child’s christening, and possibly contained the holy water for the ceremony.
Gifts of silver often marked rites of passage, such as marriage, retirement or christening. In the Tudor period it became customary for the king to buy or commission a piece of plate for the baptism of his god-children. This usually took the form of a plain two-handled cup, with a spool-shaped cover. The elaborate nature of this George II cup and cover, with its heraldic ornament, therefore sets it apart from the other royal christening gifts. Emilia’s father himself was probably the one who ensured the design was as grand as possible, as suggested by the wording of the warrant sent to the Keeper of the Jewel House.
The royal quality of the piece is made visible through the use of the royal supporters, the lion and the unicorn as handles, the royal armorial crest which forms the finial and the engraved coat-of-arms in cartouches. Moreover, its larger proportions resemble those of the cups and covers usually produced for ambassadors as part of their official allocation of plate. Lady Emilia took her royal present with her to Ireland when she married the 20th Earl of Kildare, later Duke of Leinster. The christening cup and cover then descended in the Kildare family and acquired an Irish liner in 1856, which may suggest that it was later used on the dining table for serving soup.
A contemporary of Paul de Lamerie, the Huguenot goldsmith Edward Feline (circa 1695 - 1753) was apprenticed to Augustin Courtauld in March 1709. He was not made a freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company until April 1721 but had clearly been working independently for some time already, having established his own workshop in Covent Garden and registered two marks for Sterling and Britannia Standards, in September 1720. While he supplied silver to both royal and noble customers, this christening bowl and cover is the most striking and unusual commission of his documented career.
Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. The present piece is the latest acquisition of the Gilbert Collection, and is a tribute to Rosalinde and Arthur’s passion for opulence, historical significance and extraordinary craftsmanship.
