PAUL STORR - DESIGNED BY EDWARD HODGES BAILY - An important & magnificent George III Soup Tureen & cover made in London in 1819 by Paul Storr.

The Soup Tureen has a shaped circular form and stands on four scroll feet decorated with shells and displaying acanthus leaf mouldings where they are attached to the main body.  The baluster shaped body is decorated with flat fluting and rises to an everted rim beautifully decorated with shells, acanthus scrolls and anthemion motifs.  The bound, reeded, side handles also have acanthus mouldings and the front of the main body is engraved with a contemporary Armorial surrounded by a foliate scroll cartouche.  The rear of the main body is also engraved with a contemporary Armorial.  The conforming domed, pull-off, cover is also decorated with fluting and terminates in a reeded loop handle decorated with fruiting vines and shells.  The handle sits on a platform of acanthus leaves in sizes.  The cover is also engraved with two Crests.  The Tureen is in excellent condition and is of the finest quality in design and production.  It is of an exceptional weight and gauge.

The Arms and Crest on the front are probably those Kemys.  Charles Kemys (Tynte) (1778-1860) married Anne Lewis, a widow, in 1798 at Walcot, St. Swithin, Somerset.  The Arms and Crest on the reverse are those of Lewis, quartered by Hampton.  It may be that the Arms on the rear denote the donor and the Arms on the front the recipient of the Tureen.

It is not often that we can attribute the design of a piece of silver to an individual, however this piece was almost certainly designed by Edward Hodges Baily, prominent sculptor who designed for Rundell’s and who designed Nelson’s column.  He was also responsible for the design of the Duchess of St. Alban’s Soup Tureens on Stands, sold Christie’s 7^th June 2011, and a near identical Soup Tureen which was sold at Christie’s on 17^th May 2012.  These are shown in the image stream.

Length, handle to handle: 13.25 inches, 33.13 cm.

Width: 10.25 inches, 25.63 cm.

Height: 11 inches, 27.5 cm.

Weight: 111 oz.

EDWARD HODGES BAILY ( 1788-1867 )

E. H . Baily joined the leading London sculptor and designer, John Flaxman from his home town of Bristol in 1807. He appears to have worked mainly as a modeller and carver of Flaxman's designs and left him in 1815 to work as a designer himself and a modeller for Rundells. He stayed with Rundells until 1833 and subsequently worked for Storr and Mortimer and for its successor firms, Mortimer and Hunt (1839-1843) and Hunt and Roskell (1843-1897), (C. Oman, 'A Problem of Artistic Responsibility: The Firm of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell', Apollo, January, 1966, p. 180).
 
 Although known in the silver world as an important 19th century designer it is Edward Hodges Baily's work as a sculptor for which he is best remembered. Indeed, his greatest work is still surely the best known sculpture in England today, the figure of Nelson on the column in Trafalgar Square. Among a large number of important surviving works are half the sculptures on Marble Arch, some of the exterior work of Buckingham Palace, the figure of the Duke of York in Waterloo Place and various monuments in St. Pauls and Westminster Abbey.
 
The design drawing, attributed to Edward Hodges Baily, who worked for Rundell, Bridge and Rundell from 1815 to 1833, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and is discussed in Charles Oman's "A Problem of Artistic Responsibility: The Firm of Rundell, Bridge and Rundell," Apollo, March 1966, pp. 174-83.