Live Auction 21907Bayreuth: A Connoisseur's Collection of English Silver and Gold Boxes
A SET OF THREE GEORGE III OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE TEA CADDIES IN CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN CASE
Lot 103

A SET OF THREE GEORGE III OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE TEA CADDIES IN CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN CASE

THE CADDIES APPARENTLY UNMARKED, CIRCA 1775; THE CASE, CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

Closed7 July 2023

Estimate

GBP 12,000–18,000

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A SET OF THREE GEORGE III OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE TEA CADDIES IN CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN CASE
THE CADDIES APPARENTLY UNMARKED, CIRCA 1775; THE CASE, CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY
Rectangular, decorated with Chinese riverscapes showing figures and boats within trelliswork and Greek key borders, the interior with three porcelain compartments fitted with Old Sheffield Plate caddies for green tea, black tea and sugar, each plain with hinged cover and ball finial, the swing handles, with Sheffield-plate handles, hinges and lock plate, with book plate inside cover
the case 9 1/4 in. (23 cm.) wide
The arms on the bookplate are those of Cuming impaling Bishop, for John Cuming J.P. (1771-1854) of Chiddingfold, Surrey, and his wife Anne Frances (1776-1869), daughter of Henry Bishop, of Fridinghurst, Surrey, whom he married at St. George's, Hanover Square in 1815.

John Cuming J.P. (1771-1854) of Chiddingfold, Surrey
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 23 January 2001, lot 14.

Specialist note


This is a very rare form in Chinese export porcelain. Three examples in carved ivory and mother-of-pearl with reverse glass from the collection of Basil and the Hon. Mrs. Ionides are illustrated in M. Jourdain and R. Soame Jenyns, Chinese Export Art, pp. 133-4. The present example has an 18th century engraved bookplate in the lid interior with the arms of Cumming impaling Bishop and inscribed Cumming. D. S. Howard, op. cit., p. 455 illustrates a saucer, circa 1775, with the arms of Cumming, referring to an earlier Cumming bookplate, the service probably made for Sir Alexander Penrose Cumming, M.P. for Inverness, who may have also ordered this tea caddy box when he was married to Helen, daughter of Sir Ludovic Grant, Bt., in September 1773.