Physical description
A silver-gilt cup, cover and matching salver, one of a pair, the cup on a spreading circular foot cast and chased with basketwork, the body applied with masks, lambrequins and strapwork above and below the central moulded rib, the scroll handles cast with beading and foliage, the stepped spool-shaped covers with foliage and gadrooned borders, a band of guilloche enclosing rosettes and vase-shaped finial, the salver on a bell-shaped foot with basket work border and partly fluted knop and with gadrooned rim and shaped leaf and scroll border, the cup and salver engraved with the Royal coat of arms, the cover with the monogram of Queen Anne, the cup, cover and salver each struck four times with the maker's mark, the salver and cup both marked with scratch weights.
Place of Origin
London, England (made)
Date
ca. 1714 (made)
Artist/maker
Rollos, Philip (the Elder), born 1655 (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Silver-gilt, cast and chased
Marks and inscriptions
Maker's mark RO with mullet above and below struck four times on the cup, cover and salver.
The Royal Coat of Arms are engraved on the cup and the salver.
The cover is engraved with the Royal monogram for Queen Anne
No hallmarks
Dimensions
Height: 38 cm, Width: 35.5 cm cup and cover, Depth: 20.5 cm cup and cover, Diameter: 40.4 cm salver, Height: 13.5 cm salver, Weight: 15.03 kg entire set, Weight: 483 oz entire set
Object history note
Delivered by Samuel Smythin to the Royal Jewel House, London between 26th December 1713 and 26th March 1714 for the use of Baron Bingley as Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Spain (1713-1714); Returned to the Jewel House by 28th June 1725. Owned by Ernst Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover (1771-1851), thence by descent to Ernst Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Crown Prince of Hanover (1887-1953); Chrichton Brothers, 1924; Sir Phillip Sassoon Bt., thence by descent to the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Houghton sale, Christie's London 8 December 1994 lot 103.
Historical significance: The cup is part of a magnificent set with an impressive Royal provenance originally intended for ambassadorial plate. The Royal arms engraved on the cups and the salvers are those of Queen Anne who reigned from 1702-1714 and the covers are marked with her initials. The comtemporary reference to the supply of this set is preserved in the Jewel House accounts between 26 December 1713 and 26th March 1714 (Fo.223, Lord Chamberlain's Papers/47 in the National Archives at Kew)
'Anno Regina Anna 12th 1714
Lord Bingley
ditto Item two Cupps Covers & Sallvers gilt at 490 oz 12/7d gilt £398:5:10'
Historical context note
A similar pair of covered cups were issued to Lord Methuen in 1714 marked by the same London maker. Sir Phillip Sassoon also owned the Methuen cups and the Bingley and Methuen cups were exhibited together in London in the Loan Exhibition of English Plate held at 25 Park Lane, W1 in 1929. The cups were supplied by Samuel Smythin, the Principal Goldsmith.
Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley lived at Braham Park, Yorkshire. A politician, businessman and diplomat, he was appointed Ambassador-Extraordinary to Spain in December 1713 when he was granted 5893 ozs of white plate and 1066 ozs of gilt plate. He never went to Spain and returned 4,913 oz 11 dwts of white plate and 704 ozs 3 dwt of gilt plate to the Jewel House on 28th June 1725.
Descriptive line
Silve-gilt, London (no hallmarks), ca.1714, mark of Phillip Rollos.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
H.Avray Tipping,'The English Silver Plate of the Duke of Cumberland' Country Life, LV, 2 February 1924, figs.1 & 2.
E.Alfred Jones, The Duke of Cumberland's English Plate', The Burlington Magazine, 44, no.250(January 1924) pp.40-42
Helen Jacobsen, 'Ambassadorial plate of the later Stuart period and the collection of the Earl of Strafford', Journal of the History of Collections, vol.19 no.1 (2007) pp.1-13
Exhibition History
A Loan Exhibition of Old English Plate (London, 25 Park Lane, W1 01/01/1929-31/12/1929)
Old English Royal Plate, Silver and Silver-gilt from the Duke of Cumberland (Crichton Brothers Galleries 01/01/1924-31/12/1924)
Labels and date
These splendid and weighty objects, probably the only set of cups and salvers to survive together, are one of the finest examples of display silver. They were commissioned, as was customary, as part of the official ambassadorial plate for Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley, appointed Ambassador Extrordinary to the Court of Spain in 1713. An ambassador's silver, set out at official functions, reflected both his status and that of the English crown, so the cups were designed to impress. They were supplied by Samuel Smythin, the Royal Goldsmith, but made in the workshop of Phillip Rollos, one of the most important London goldsmiths.
The casting and chased ornament on the body are of exceptional quality, as would be expected of a major Huguenot workshop with a royal and aristocratic clientele. The entered the collection at Houghton, built for Robert Walpole in the 1720s, through Sir Phillip Sassoon, brother of Sybil, Countess of Rocksavage. [1976]
Associated names
Smythin, Samuel
Production Note
Supplied by Samuel Smythin to the Jewel House, London
Materials
Silver-gilt
Techniques
Engraving; Casting; Chasing
Subjects depicted
Foliage; Rosettes; Scroll-work; Gadrooning; Strapwork; Fluting; Beading (edging pattern); Guilloche; Masks (design elements); Coat of arms, royal; Lambrequins
Categories
Containers; Metalwork; Ceremonial objects
Production Type
Unique
Collection code
MET
