Ewer
1736 (made), 1944-1945 (hallmarked)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
From the 1760s, helmet-shaped ewers were popular for displaying on the buffet or for use on the toilet table. This ewer may have been originally accompanied by a large basin to assist with hand washing. It is designed in the fashionable Régence style which emerged in Paris in the late 17th century and was brought to England by Huguenot goldsmiths. Typical features of the style included cut-card work work (flat sheets of pierced silver applied to plain surfaces) and gadrooning (borders of convex ribs). Although this ewer is made by the most celebrated of 18th century silversmiths, Paul de Lamerie, it is also a duty `dodger'. English silver was taxed by weight after 1720. To avoid paying tax on larger, heavier objects (weighed when the piece was being marked by the assay office), marks were sometimes cut out from smaller, lighter pieces and added to avoid them going through the assay office. In 1944 the transposed marks for this piece were removed and the ewer was re-marked.
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Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Silver gilt, cast |
| Brief description | Silver, London, 1736, made by Paul de Lamerie, London hallmarks for 1944-45. |
| Physical description | Helmet shaped body, harp shaped handle with a beaded head, the arms in high relief under the lip, the lower part of the body with alternate scrolls and twisted leaves, shaped quatrefoil foot chased with scrolls and scales. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | Cast coat of arms of Philip Yorke, Baron Hardwicke (later Lord Chancellor) impaling those of his wife Margaret Cocks |
| Gallery label |
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| Object history | Offered for sale at Christie's (without an accompanying salver) by Lord Hardwicke, 04/04/1895, Lot 101. Bought by Heigham for £361-2s-5d. Sent in for sale to Christie's by a Mrs Motion and catalogued as Lot 66 in the sale of 09/06/1943. Withdrawn in consequence of a complaint that the marks were transposed (which they proved to be when the foot was removed). Put up for sale (without marks) by another auctioneer in 1944 and seized by the Goldsmiths' Company . Submitted to the Antique Plate Committee on 26/06/1944 and ordered to be marked as a modern piece. The Company retained the disc showing the original hallmarks. The gilding was probably done since 1944 but before the ewer entered the Museum. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | From the 1760s, helmet-shaped ewers were popular for displaying on the buffet or for use on the toilet table. This ewer may have been originally accompanied by a large basin to assist with hand washing. It is designed in the fashionable Régence style which emerged in Paris in the late 17th century and was brought to England by Huguenot goldsmiths. Typical features of the style included cut-card work work (flat sheets of pierced silver applied to plain surfaces) and gadrooning (borders of convex ribs). Although this ewer is made by the most celebrated of 18th century silversmiths, Paul de Lamerie, it is also a duty `dodger'. English silver was taxed by weight after 1720. To avoid paying tax on larger, heavier objects (weighed when the piece was being marked by the assay office), marks were sometimes cut out from smaller, lighter pieces and added to avoid them going through the assay office. In 1944 the transposed marks for this piece were removed and the ewer was re-marked. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.16-1954 |
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| Record created | July 16, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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