The identity of the maker who used this maker’s mark, a hound sejant, who was described by the late Charles Oman as ‘the most important goldsmith active in the middle years of the century’, ¹ had long been a mystery. In 2003 Eric Smith published the results of his research (see Published below) which revealed the identity of this maker, using this wager cup as one of the key pieces of evidence.

Another wager cup of virtually identical form is known, now in the Gilbert Collection, ² which is struck with the mark of Richard Blackwell II’s father; both cups clearly come from the same workshop, and the marks on both provide a vital link between the Blackwells and the hound sejant mark.

This example is one of a handful of surviving English wager cups and the only one to remain in private hands. Apart from the other Blackwell example cited above, there is a pair of examples in the Untermyer Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and another pair belonging to the Worshipful Company of Vintners, London.

The cup has a number of characteristics typical of the extremely high quality work associated with the hound sejant mark: the boldness of the modelling of the girl’s torso and the scrolling handles she holds aloft, the superb casting of the figure, and the rippling chasing of the girl’s skirt.

We were pleased recently to be able to negotiate the sale of this exceedingly rare object to a US collector on behalf of the estate of an East Coast collector.

Notes
1 Charles Oman, Caroline Silver (London, 1970) p. 27. Back to main text
2 Illustrated in Timothy Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver (Los Angeles, 1988)  no. 28, p. 122. Back to main text

The identity of the maker who used this maker’s mark, a hound sejant, who was described by the late Charles Oman as ‘the most important goldsmith active in the middle years of the century’, ¹ had long been a mystery. In 2003 Eric Smith published the results of his research (see Published below) which revealed the identity of this maker, using this wager cup as one of the key pieces of evidence.

Another wager cup of virtually identical form is known, now in the Gilbert Collection, ² which is struck with the mark of Richard Blackwell II’s father; both cups clearly come from the same workshop, and the marks on both provide a vital link between the Blackwells and the hound sejant mark.

This example is one of a handful of surviving English wager cups and the only one to remain in private hands. Apart from the other Blackwell example cited above, there is a pair of examples in the Untermyer Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and another pair belonging to the Worshipful Company of Vintners, London.

The cup has a number of characteristics typical of the extremely high quality work associated with the hound sejant mark: the boldness of the modelling of the girl’s torso and the scrolling handles she holds aloft, the superb casting of the figure, and the rippling chasing of the girl’s skirt.

We were pleased recently to be able to negotiate the sale of this exceedingly rare object to a US collector on behalf of the estate of an East Coast collector.

Notes
1 Charles Oman, Caroline Silver (London, 1970) p. 27. Back to main text
2 Illustrated in Timothy Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver (Los Angeles, 1988)  no. 28, p. 122. Back to main text

Steeple cups are a particularly English form from the beginning of the seventeenth century. Norman Penzer, in his comprehensive study of them published in 1965,¹ divides the form into four basic types; all are surmounted by a three- or four-sided pyramidal steeple. The present cup belongs to Penzer’s second category, which have scroll brackets, and the steeple surmounted by the figure of a Roman soldier, or Minerva as on the present cup. Perhaps the most important grouping of steeple cups is in the Kremlin, which comprises some sixteen examples which came to Russia as ambassadorial gifts.

The steeple was a favourite motif in Jacobean architecture and has its roots in ancient symbolism. In the seventeenth century such cups were referred to as ‘pinnacle cups’ and the term ‘steeple cup’ appears first in E. Alfred Jones’s catalogue of the Leopold de Rothschild collection published in 1907,² which includes this cup. In that catalogue, Jones says that steeple cups were said to have been designed by George Heriot, the Edinburgh banker and goldsmith who founded the celebrated hospital there and who figures in Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Fortunes of Nigel. A gold example was given to James I by the Inner and Middle Temple in 1609. It was described in a contemporary inventory thus: ‘in the upper part thereof adorned with a fabric fashioned like a pyramid, whereon standeth the statue of a military person leaning with the left hand upon a Roman fashioned shield or target’.

The use of the Union flag, which is engraved on Minerva’s shield on the present cup, dates back to the accession of James I in 1603, which united the kingdoms of Scotland and England.³

These sauceboats are extremely rare examples of documented silver, whose design and supply are supported by surviving evidence. In the 1760s, the 4th Duke of Marlborough employed the celebrated architect Sir William Chambers to undertake extensive alterations to Blenheim Palace, his ancestral home in Oxfordshire, and Marlborough House, his London town house. The Duke also ordered, from the London silversmiths Parker and Wakelin, a silver dinner service, the design of which is also by Chambers.

The details of the service are documented in Parker and Wakelin’s ledgers preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum.¹

On August 15, 1768, the Duke of Marlborough was invoiced for

               16 fine festoon Sauceboats

weighing 563 oz. 11 dwt. at a cost of 9s 8d per ounce, making a total of £272 7s 8d. Engraving crests and coronets cost an additional £1 8s and two ‘wanscot Cases’ were supplied for £3 5s. The Duke did not settle his outstanding account with Parker and Wakelin until June 6 of the following year when he paid them a total of £432 12s 1d.