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Tea and Coffee Service

1809-10 (marked)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In the early nineteenth century, tea services were usually limited to three pieces: teapot, cream jug, and sugar basin; however occasionally a coffeepot and tray were acquired in the same style. This service is remarkable as it contains nine pieces; the muffin dishes and the tea caddy are unusual additions. The only other large service known from this period was also by Paul Storr and was made for Earl Howe, it numbered thirteen original pieces and three later additions.

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. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.

Object details

Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver
Brief description
Silver cream jug with a short spout and handle in the form of a serpent.
Physical description
The cream jug is circular and modelled in the form of an ancient Roman lamp. The shallow body stands on a gadrooned, spreading rim foot. It is plain on the lower part and decorated above with a band of palmettes on matted ground; it has a gadrooned shoulder and ovolo border. It has a short spout. The handle is in the form of a silver serpent. Paul Storr, 1809-1811.
Dimensions
  • Height: 114mm
  • Weight: 547.3g
  • Width: 185mm (Note: width measured across the widest dimension (handle to spout))
  • Depth: 131mm (Note: depth measured across main body of jug (widest point of main body of the jug excluding handle and spout))
Credit line
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Object history
Provenance: Miss S.L.Somerville, sale, Sotheby's, October 19, 1961, lot 103. Lillian and Morrie A.Moss, Memphis, Tennessee. Purchased from David Orgell, Inc., Beverly Hills, 1976.
Summary
In the early nineteenth century, tea services were usually limited to three pieces: teapot, cream jug, and sugar basin; however occasionally a coffeepot and tray were acquired in the same style. This service is remarkable as it contains nine pieces; the muffin dishes and the tea caddy are unusual additions. The only other large service known from this period was also by Paul Storr and was made for Earl Howe, it numbered thirteen original pieces and three later additions.

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. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Schroder, Timothy. The Gilbert collection of gold and silver. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) 1988, cat. no. 98, pp. 371-75. ISBN.0875871445
  • Moss, Morrie A. The Lillian and Morrie A. Moss Collection of Paul Storr Silver. Miami: Roskin Book Productions, 1972, p. 114, pl. 53.
  • Williams, Elizabeth A. The Gilbert Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), 2010, fig. 10, p. 34. ISBN 9780875872100
  • Clark, Mark A., Paul Storr Silver in American Collections, Indianapolis ; Dayton, 1972 no.30
Other numbers
  • SG 70D - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1996.725 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • L.2010.9.29.4 - LACMA Loan Number 2010
  • SG 91
Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.814-2008

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Record createdJune 19, 2008
Record URL
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