Live Auction 21907Bayreuth: A Connoisseur's Collection of English Silver and Gold Boxes
A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER MEAT DISHES
Lot 153

A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER MEAT DISHES

MARK OF DAVID WILLAUME II, LONDON, 1735

Closed7 July 2023

Estimate

GBP 5,000–8,000

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A PAIR OF GEORGE II SILVER MEAT DISHES
MARK OF DAVID WILLAUME II, LONDON, 1735
Each shaped oblong with gadrooned border, slightly later engraved with a coat-of-arms within a rococo cartouche, marked underneath
16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide
82 oz. 3 dwt. (2,556 gr.)
The arms are those of Forde impaling Knox, for Mathew Forde M.P. (1726-1795), of Seaforde, co. Down and his wife Elizabeth Knox (1724-1812), daughter of Thomas Knox (d.1769), sister of 1st Viscount Northland, whom he married in 1750.

Mathew Forde M.P. (1726-1795), of Seaforde, co. Down.
A Gentleman; Christie's, London,11 July 1990, lot 190.

Specialist note


MATHEW FORDE OF SEAFORDE
The family originated from co. Meath, but claimed descent from the Anglo Norman de la Forde family. The Seaforde estate was purchased by Mathew Forde (b.c.1590-1652) between 1614 and 1628, however it wasn't until the later Mathew Forde married in 1750 that the family spent time at Seaforde, preferring their house in Dublin or their other estate at Coolgreany, Wexford. Mathew Forde and his bride, Elizabeth Knox, 'an agreeable young woman with ten thousand pounds fortune' set about improving what their neighbour, the artist and letter writer Mrs Delany (1700-1788) had described in a letter to her friend Mrs Dewes of Gloucester in 1744, as '...a very pleasant place and capable of being made a very fine one; there is more wood than is common in this country and a fine lake of water with very pretty meadows. The house is situated on the side of a hill and looks down on his woods and water.' In addition to his wife's dowry Mathew's father settled £1,200 on him on his marriage to make the place 'a very fine one'. Mathew sat as M.P. for Downpatrick from 1761 until 1776 and was High Sheriff of County Down in 1752. His son, also named Mathew, rebuilt the house, which later burnt in 1819. It was reconstructed and remains in the family today.