Cup thumbnail 1
Cup thumbnail 2
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Not on display

Cup

1742-1743 (hallmarked)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Paul de Lamerie arrived in London as a small child with his parents in or before 1689. His father was Paul Souchay de la Merie, a Huguenot officer in William III's army, who took out denization in 1703, when the family were living in Berwick Street, Soho, in the heart of the newly established Huguenot community of craftsmen specializing in the production of luxury goods. In that same year, the younger Paul was apprenticed to the Huguenot goldsmith Pierre Platel, without paying a premium, when his father was described as a gentleman. After being admitted to the Freedom of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1712, the guild which controlled the quality of silver production in London, Paul de Lamerie registered his first mark with the Company and set up a workshop in Windmill Street, Soho. A gradual expansion of his business culminated in his move in 1739 to considerably larger premises in Gerrard Street. De Lamerie had many wealthy and discerning clients, such as Sir Robert Walpole, first British prime minister, Baron Anson and the sixth earl of Mountrath, all these patrons are represented in the Gilbert Collection. De Lamerie was responsible for some of the most interesting and imaginative examples of English 18th century silver in the rococo style.

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. They assembled one of the largest groups of silver by Paul de Lamerie. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Cup
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Silver-gilt raised, cast, chased and embossed
Brief description
Two-handled silver-gilt, cast and chased cup and cover, London hallmarks for 1742-43, mark of Paul de Lamerie
Physical description
Two-handled, silver-gilt cup standing on a domed foot and of slightly waisted profile, cast and chased with infant bacchantes amidst flowers, foliage, and scrolls with satyr's and leopard's masks and vignettes of landscapes. The cover is domed in two stages: it has decoration similar to that on the cup and a finial in the form of a bunch of grapes surmounted by a lizard.
Dimensions
  • Width: 24.5cm
  • Height: 37.9cm
  • Weight: 3194g
  • Depth: 15.9cm
Measured 25/04/24 IW
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • London hallmarks for 1742-3
  • Mark of Paul de Lamerie
Gallery label
(16/11/2016)
(Gallery 71, case 2)
3. Cup and cover
1742–43
The cup was probably designed by the Maynard Master, an unknown artist who worked for de Lamerie.
London, England; Paul de Lamerie (1688–1751), attributed to the Maynard Master
Gilded silver
Museum nos. Loan:Gilbert.731:1, 2-2008
Credit line
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Object history
Provenance: Probably Hunt and Roskell, London. Earl Cowper. Sir Charles Jackson. Vicountess Gage, sale, Christie's, lot 33, November 24, 1971. Purchased from S. J. Shrubsole, Ltd., London, 1971.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Paul de Lamerie arrived in London as a small child with his parents in or before 1689. His father was Paul Souchay de la Merie, a Huguenot officer in William III's army, who took out denization in 1703, when the family were living in Berwick Street, Soho, in the heart of the newly established Huguenot community of craftsmen specializing in the production of luxury goods. In that same year, the younger Paul was apprenticed to the Huguenot goldsmith Pierre Platel, without paying a premium, when his father was described as a gentleman. After being admitted to the Freedom of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1712, the guild which controlled the quality of silver production in London, Paul de Lamerie registered his first mark with the Company and set up a workshop in Windmill Street, Soho. A gradual expansion of his business culminated in his move in 1739 to considerably larger premises in Gerrard Street. De Lamerie had many wealthy and discerning clients, such as Sir Robert Walpole, first British prime minister, Baron Anson and the sixth earl of Mountrath, all these patrons are represented in the Gilbert Collection. De Lamerie was responsible for some of the most interesting and imaginative examples of English 18th century silver in the rococo style.

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. They assembled one of the largest groups of silver by Paul de Lamerie. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.
Bibliographic references
  • Jackson, Charles James. An Illustrated History of English Plate, Ecclesiastical and Secular. 2 Vols. London: Country Life/B.T. Batsford, 1911, vol. 2, ill. opp. p. 730. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, 1969.
  • Phillips, P.A.S. Paul de Lamerie, citizen and goldsmith of London: A study of his life and work, 1688-1757. London: B.T. Batsford, 1935. pl. LXXIX, p. 107.
  • Hayward, J.F. Virtuoso goldsmiths and the triumph of Mannerism, 1540-1620. London: Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications; New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1976, no. 9, pp. 114, 118-19.
  • 'Rococo Silver in England and its Colonies': Papers from a symposium at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 2004. Silver Studies: The Journal of the Silver Society. London: The Silver Society, London, 2006. No. 20. Appendix 3.2, fig. 178.1, 178.3; Appendix 3.4, fig. 180, 181.1-4.
  • Jones, William Ezelle, Monumental Silver: Selections from the Gilbert Collection. Los Angeles : Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1977 no.18
  • Robinson, J.C. (ed.). Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediaeval, Renaissance, and more recent periods: on loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M. Stationery Office, rev. ed. January 1863. 5940
  • Gilbert, Arthur. Monumental Silver: The Gilbert Collection, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1974 no.10
  • Old silver-work : chiefly English from the XVth to the XVIIIth centuries : a catalogue of the unique loan collection exhibited in 1902 at St. James Court London, London : B.T. Batsford ; New York : S. Buckley, 1903 pl.107
Other numbers
  • SG 41 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • GB 215 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1998.17 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.731:1, 2-2008

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Record createdJune 26, 2008
Record URL
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