Royal. A Highly important pair of magnificant George II Silver Gilt Chargers made in London in 1736 by Paul Crespin

Royal. A Highly important pair of magnificant George II Silver Gilt Chargers made in London in 1736 by Paul Crespin

Sold
Reference

374434

The Chargers are of a large size and outstanding weight. Each is circular in form with a deep bowl and raised wide rim decorated with a bold applied gadrooned band. The border is engraved with the Royal Arms of King George II, flanked by GR, for George Rex, with the Crown of the Sovereign above. These Chargers would have been on sideboards at banquets, as a symbol of wealth and status. An image is shown of the chargers being placed on a sideboard at Buckingham Palace before a state banquet.

The Chargers entered the famous Coutts Collection of silver and the centre is engraved with the Arms and Crest of Bartlett-Burdett-Coutts, for William Lehman Ash Bartlett, later Bartlett- Burdett-Coutts. The inescutcheon of pretence is for his wife Angela Georgina Burdett Coutts, who had been raised to the Peerage in her own right.

Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, 1814-1906, was a nineteenth century philanthopist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of the banker, Thomas Coutts. In 1837, she became the wealthiest woman in England when she inherited her grandfather's fortune of nearly three million pounds, following the death of his second wife Harriet Mellon, Duchess of St Albans, who had enjoyed a life interest in the estate. Angela joined the surnames of her father and grandfather, by Royal licence, to become Burdett Coutts. King Edward VII is reported to have described her as "After my mother (Queen Victoria), the most remarkable woman in the Kingdom. " She was created the 1st Baroness Burdett Coutts in 1871 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. The Chargers are in excellent condition and are very well marked on the reverse. They are also engraved with their original scratch weights.

Work by Paul Crespin is rare and highly collected. The family appear to have been of long standing in the Huguenot colony in London. Crespin's powers and reputation grew quickly after the entry of his mark. His surviving work is of consistently high standard, rivalling that of De Lamerie. He was at his highest powers circa 1740 when his centre piece, in the Royal Collection, and the Tureen of 1741 (formerly in the Duke of Somerset's Collection), were made. The quality of their execution matches their originality of their design.

Diameter: 19.3 inches.
Weight 222oz, the pair.

RELATED ITEMS