A design for a silver tureen by Nicholas Sprimont (1716- 1771), circa 1744-7

Design for a tureen and cover, profile, probably full size. Probably rounded in plan with chamfered corners. Scroll shaped legs, from which rise two ostriches, shown in relief against the body, holding horseshoes in their beaks. In the centre of the side of the body is an Earl’s coronet surmounting two blank cartouches. The handles are formed as horizontal scrolls. The double curve of the gadrooned rim, broken in the centre, is repeated in the cover which is surmounted by a naturalistic artichoke and leaves.

The ostriches are references to the supporters of the arms of Thomas Coke (1697- 1759) created Earl of Leicester in May 1744, and the cartouches are perhaps intended for his arms and those of Margaret Tufton, his wife. Coke, a Whig, and a friend and neighbour of Sir Robert Walpole, was the builder of the Palladian mansion of Holkham and a member of the Society of Dilettanti. No surviving piece after this design is recorded. The double- curved gadrooned rim is present on a basket by Sprimont of 1745 (Grimwade 1974, pl. 42a), Heraldic references were not infrequently incorporated into the decoration of soup tureens, but the very strong armorial emphasis of this piece suggests a date soon after Coke’s elevation to his earldom.
Nicholas Sprimont was a silversmith and porcelain manufacturer. He arrived in London by November 1742, when he married Ann Protin of Kensington. He registered his mark at Goldsmiths’ Hall in January 1743. He is recorded as the manager of the Chelsea China manufacturing in 1749. A number of other Chelsea pieces are also derived from Sprimont’s silver. At least thirty-six pieces of Sprimont silver are recorder, the dated examples of which fall between hallmark years 1742 (i.e. up to May 1743) and 1747, and five other pieces have been attributed to him. Sprimont’s style appears to be directly inspired by French rococo Silver (E.G. Thomas Germain), although the precise forms of some pieces are difficult to parallel, chiefly because of Sprimont’s use of sculptural elements, including figures (as on the sauce boats of the marine service) which are more lively in modelling than those on any English silver up to the 19th century. It may be significant that he stood godfather to the daughter of the sculptor L.F. Roubiliac in 1744.Sprimont’s Silver is different in style from the common Liege silver of the period, and there are few comparable pieces in English silver, with the notable exception of the work of Paul Crespin, A Huguenot born in England who also live in Compton Street. Only one drawing by Sprimont is recorded outside the Museum: a signed design for a cruet dish (Society of Antiquaries of London MS 263, see A. Esdaile, “A Signed Drawing by Sprimont”, Apollo, XXXIX, (1944), p 134) , which appears in silver as a cruet frame and also in the form of porcelain dishes.

Given by Mr A G B Russell, Rouge Croix, through the National Art Collections Fund.

E.2606-1917