Live Auction 10398Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes
A SET OF FOUR VICTORIAN SILVER-GILT SALT-CELLARS AND A SAUCE-TUREEN AND COVER FROM THE EMERSON TENNENT TESTIMONIAL DINNER-SERVICE
Lot 701

A SET OF FOUR VICTORIAN SILVER-GILT SALT-CELLARS AND A SAUCE-TUREEN AND COVER FROM THE EMERSON TENNENT TESTIMONIAL DINNER-SERVICE

MARK OF BENJAMIN SMITH, LONDON, 1842

Closed2 December 2015

Price Realised

GBP 13,125

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A SET OF FOUR VICTORIAN SILVER-GILT SALT-CELLARS AND A SAUCE-TUREEN AND COVER FROM THE EMERSON TENNENT TESTIMONIAL DINNER-SERVICE
MARK OF BENJAMIN SMITH, LONDON, 1842
Of Warwick vase form, on square pedestal bases, with entwined vine side-handles, each marked on lower body, the sauce-tureen further marked on cover and finial, the bases stamped 'B. Smith Duke St. Lin'n Fields' or 'B. Smith Lin'n Fields', the sauce-tureen with plated liner, the bases filled
The sauce-tureen 7 in. (18 cm.) high
The salt-cellars 3 in. (7.7 cm.) high
The arms are those of Tennent quartering Emerson with Tennent in pretence, for James Emerson Tennent (1804-1869) of Tempo Castle, co. Fermanagh, Ireland and his wife Letitia, daughter and co-heiress of William Tennent (d.1832), whom he married in 1831.

Presented to James Emerson Tennent (1804-1869), M.P. for Belfast, at the Albion Hotel, Manchester on January 1843 by the calico printers of Britain in recognition of his championing of the Copyright of Designs Bill.

Specialist note

The Tennent Testimonial Dinner Service weighed over 3,000 ounces and cost £1,850. A contemporary report notes that Mr. Tennent requested that the design of the tureens and salts cellars match the Warwick vase wine-coolers, also by Benjamin Smith, which had recently been presented to him. Tennent was Secretary to the Board of Control and was appointed colonial secretary of Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, in 1845. He was knighted and received a baronetcy. He was a close friend of Charles Dickens and published a number of works on Ceylon.