The Bingley Cup thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Silver, Room 65, The Whiteley Galleries

The Bingley Cup

Cup and Cover
ca. 1714 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

These splendid silver-gilt cups were made for Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley, when he was appointed ambassador to the court of Spain in 1713, to form part of the display at official functions which reflected both his status and that of the British crown. They were supplied by the Royal Jewel House and marked by Phillip Rollos, one of the leading foreign goldsmiths working in London at the time.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Cup
  • Lid for Cup
  • Stand
TitleThe Bingley Cup (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Silver-gilt, cast and chased
Brief description
Silver-gilt, London (no hallmarks), ca.1714, mark of Phillip Rollos.
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.
Dimensions
  • Height: 38cm
  • Cup and cover width: 35.5cm
  • Cup and cover depth: 20.5cm
  • Salver diameter: 40.4cm
  • Salver height: 13.5cm
  • Entire set weight: 15.03kg
  • Entire set weight: 483oz
These dimensions are of the cup and cover. The given weight includes all objects of the pair (2 stands, 2 cups, 2 covers).
Style
Production typeUnique
Copy number
one of two
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
Gallery label
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. They entered the collection at Houghton, built for Robert Walpole in the 1720s, through Sir Phillip Sassoon, brother of Sybil, Countess of Rocksavage.(1976)
Credit line
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2008
Object history
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); Crichton Brothers, 1924; Sir Phillip Sassoon Bt., thence by descent to the Marquess of Cholmondeley, Houghton sale, Christie's London 8 December 1994, lot 103.

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'. (The silver alone had cost £308-5s-10d in 1713.)

It is very unusual to find a pair of cups and covers from this period which retain their matching salvers. Precedents for salvers can be traced back to the 1620s as footed plates for the dessert, and as a standing paten for ecclesiastical use. Their original function within the service of wine was to catch drips from the glasses during the pouring of wine at the side board, but by 1700, they had acquired an additional ceremonial status, often advertising a court office. For this reason, they have survived in pristine condition as their associations with family and national history have saved them from being melted down as unfashionable. The relationship between covered cups and salvers was often overlooked by collectors, and thus many salvers were separated from their matching cups.
Historical context
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.
Production
Supplied by Samuel Smythin to the Jewel House, London
Subjects depicted
Association
Summary
These splendid silver-gilt cups were made for Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley, when he was appointed ambassador to the court of Spain in 1713, to form part of the display at official functions which reflected both his status and that of the British crown. They were supplied by the Royal Jewel House and marked by Phillip Rollos, one of the leading foreign goldsmiths working in London at the time.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • 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
  • Catalogue of a loan exhibition of old English plate and decorations and orders, London : Royal London Hospital, 1929 411-2
Other number
LOAN:MET ANON.1:9/1-1996 - Previous loan number
Collection
Accession number
M.30:1-2008

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Record createdJune 27, 2007
Record URL
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