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Lot 220PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION
A GEORGE III SILVER-GILT MOUNTED JAPANESE PORCELAIN BOWL AND COVER
THE SILVER-GILT MOUNTS LONDON, 1812, MAKER'S MARK RUBBED, POSSIBLY THAT OF JOHN ROBINS, THE PORCELAIN EDO PERIOD, LATE 18TH-EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Fermé1 June 2020
Prix réalisé
GBP 3,750
Plus d'informations
Note du spécialiste
This sugar bowl and cover was almost certainly part of the collection of silver and silver-gilt mounted ceramic pieces collected by William Beckford.
Beckford acquired an extensive collection of ceramics for Fonthill, mostly composed of 18th-century East Asian and European porcelain described by his agent Gregorio Franchi: 'a great quantity of Japan and eggshells saucers - Dresden & Seve likewise' (Beckford Papers: MS list by Gregorio Franchi of objects removed from Fonthill, case 5). It included no less than forty-seven sugar basins 'all different' according to Franchi (MS list of case 3) and succinctly described in the documents, which makes their formal identification very difficult.
Beckford had many of these porcelain pieces fitted with silver and silver-gilt mounts, mostly between 1812 and 1823 and the largest surviving group predominantly consisted of pieces with simple neoclassical mounts, whilst approximately ten porcelain cups and jugs, mounted between 1815 and 1820, the majority by James Aldridge, are clearly historicist in style.
John Robins also figures quite prominently amongst the silversmiths who worked regularly for Beckford. Robins entered his mark in 1774 as a plate-worker and worked for Beckford from about 1789 with a 'plate' (sold Silver from Lennoxlove; Sotheby's, London, 24 June 1980, lot 280). The inventories of William Beckford's modern plate reveal at least eight pieces by John Robins and at least four mounted ceramic pieces: a pair of Japanese porcelain bowls and covers featuring plants on red ground and with silver-gilt mounts dated 1812, a pair of Chinese porcelain beakers dated 1700-1720, with water-leaf border mounts, a famille rose cream jug with silver-gilt mounts dated 1815 and a famille rose vase mounted as a jug with silver-gilt mounts (see A45, A46, A55 and A 130 in Snodin and Baker, op. cit., 1980, p. 825-826). In general Robins showed a clear preference for classical ornament such as evident on the mounts of this sugar bowl and cover, which may have been designed under the direction of Beckford himself.
Sadly large quantities of Beckford's modern plate were sold in the Fonthill Abbey sale of 1823, the Lansdown sales of 1845 and 1848 and those held by successive Dukes of Hamilton, who inherited Beckford's collection through his daughter Susan Euphemia, who married to the 10th Duke; but the brief descriptions in the catalogues make it very difficult, if not impossible, to identify the objects with certainty.
Beckford acquired an extensive collection of ceramics for Fonthill, mostly composed of 18th-century East Asian and European porcelain described by his agent Gregorio Franchi: 'a great quantity of Japan and eggshells saucers - Dresden & Seve likewise' (Beckford Papers: MS list by Gregorio Franchi of objects removed from Fonthill, case 5). It included no less than forty-seven sugar basins 'all different' according to Franchi (MS list of case 3) and succinctly described in the documents, which makes their formal identification very difficult.
Beckford had many of these porcelain pieces fitted with silver and silver-gilt mounts, mostly between 1812 and 1823 and the largest surviving group predominantly consisted of pieces with simple neoclassical mounts, whilst approximately ten porcelain cups and jugs, mounted between 1815 and 1820, the majority by James Aldridge, are clearly historicist in style.
John Robins also figures quite prominently amongst the silversmiths who worked regularly for Beckford. Robins entered his mark in 1774 as a plate-worker and worked for Beckford from about 1789 with a 'plate' (sold Silver from Lennoxlove; Sotheby's, London, 24 June 1980, lot 280). The inventories of William Beckford's modern plate reveal at least eight pieces by John Robins and at least four mounted ceramic pieces: a pair of Japanese porcelain bowls and covers featuring plants on red ground and with silver-gilt mounts dated 1812, a pair of Chinese porcelain beakers dated 1700-1720, with water-leaf border mounts, a famille rose cream jug with silver-gilt mounts dated 1815 and a famille rose vase mounted as a jug with silver-gilt mounts (see A45, A46, A55 and A 130 in Snodin and Baker, op. cit., 1980, p. 825-826). In general Robins showed a clear preference for classical ornament such as evident on the mounts of this sugar bowl and cover, which may have been designed under the direction of Beckford himself.
Sadly large quantities of Beckford's modern plate were sold in the Fonthill Abbey sale of 1823, the Lansdown sales of 1845 and 1848 and those held by successive Dukes of Hamilton, who inherited Beckford's collection through his daughter Susan Euphemia, who married to the 10th Duke; but the brief descriptions in the catalogues make it very difficult, if not impossible, to identify the objects with certainty.