CHAPTER 17: SILVER

Figure 17.2: Silver canister, c. 1680. Matted decoration; marked ‘SS’ with a star below; initial ‘G’ engraved on top of cap lid, signifying ‘Green’ (tea); originally one of a pair. This is the earliest known English tea canister. Height 10.8 cm (4 ¼ in). Image © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford 

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Figure 17.4: Silver-gilt canister (one of a pair), dated 1706. Engraved decoration of baroque designs of foliage; front engraved with arms of George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington; cap lid; canister attributed to London Huguenot silversmith, Isaac Liger, and engraving to Simon Gribelin. Height 11.4 cm (4 ½ in). © Victoria & Albert Museum, London 

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Figure 17.5: Pair of silver canisters, dated 1716. Engraved decoration; cap lid; maker’s mark of John Farnell, London; inscription inside base of one canister states ‘holds 1/3 of a pound’. Height 14.4 cm (5 5/8 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.6:  Pair of silver canisters, dated 1728. Engraved decoration; cap lids; maker’s mark of Edward Gibbon, London. Height 12.1 cm (4 ¾ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.7: Pair of silver canisters, c. 1716-18. Engraved decoration of arms of Shore; cap lids; maker’s mark of Anthony Nelme, London; marked with scratchweight ‘Pr 13=12=0’. Height 10.2 cm (4 in). Private collection 

Figure 17.8: Silver toy canister, c. 1720. Domed cap lid; maker’s mark for toy maker, David Clayton. Height 3.5 cm (1 3/8 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.9: Set of two silver tea canisters, a covered sugar bowl, and six teaspoons, with a wooden chest, dated 1708-10. Canisters with cap lids; canisters and bowl with engraved decoration of arms of Cairnes and an interlaced ‘C’; maker’s mark on canisters of Thomas Ash, London, 1708, and on sugar bowl of René Hudell. Height (of sugar bowl) 12 cm (4 3/4 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.10: Silver canister, dated 1724. Moulded base and raised, moulded lid; front engraved with coat-of-arms surrounded by scrollwork; maker’s mark of Paul de Lamerie. Height 13 cm (5 1/8 in). Private collection 

Figure 17.11: Pair of silver canisters, dated 1738. Sliding lids with baluster finials; lids and shoulders with chased decoration, possibly later; front of each engraved with armorial of Henry Fox, within shell cartouche; maker’s mark of John Newton; original, and unusually small, shagreen case, lined with red velvet trimmed with gold braid; silver carrying handle and silver lockplate. Height (of canisters) 11.4 cm (4 ½ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.12: Set of three silver canisters and tulipwood chest, dated 1739. Canisters with moulded bases and raised, moulded sliding covers; maker’s mark of Augustin Courtauld; date mark for 1739/1740; engraved on one side with crest of the Gough family (a boar’s head), and on other side with arms of Gough of Perry Hall, Staffordshire, impaling Hynde of Madingley Hall, Cambridge; canisters fit into Chinese carved ivory chest (see 10: Ivory, Figure 10.7) protected by English-made tulipwood chest with brass fittings. Set appears in painting of The Gough Family by William Verelst, 1741 (Figure 17.13). Height (of canisters) 10.5 cm (4 1/8 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.14: Silver tea equipage, dated 1735-36. Canisters with chased and engraved rococo decoration on shoulders and around bases; engraved on front panels with ‘S’, ‘G’, and ‘B’ (for ‘Sugar’, ‘Green’ and ‘Bohea’); sliding lids; all pieces, except mote spoons and nips, engraved with coat-of-arms of Jean Daniel Boissier, who married Suzanne Judith Berchère in London in April 1735; three canisters, cream jug, and teaspoons bear marks for Paul de Lamerie, London, 1735-36; nips marked by John Allen, smallworker; spoons, mote spoon, and knives unmarked; mahogany chest with silver scroll handle, cartouche, lockplate and scroll feet; interior lined with red velvet. Height (of canisters) 11.8 cm (4 5/8 in). The Leeds City Art Galleries (Temple Newsam) 

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Figure 17.15: Silver canister, dated 1744. Chased decoration; sliding lid; with marks for Paul de Lamerie, London, 1744. The front panel depicts a figure apparently harvesting sugar cane, suggesting this canister was for sugar. Height 13.3 cm (5 ¼ in). Private collection 

Figure 17.16: Silver tea equipage, dated 1763. Set of three canisters decorated in relief with scenes of tea harvesting; leaf-form teaspoons with vine handles marked ‘J.D.’; matching sugar tongs; set bears marks for Frederick Vonham, London, 1763; silver-mounted shagreen-covered tea chest lined with velvet bordered with silver braid. Height 14 cm (5 ½ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.17: Pair of silver tea canisters, dated 1751, and a matching sugar canister, dated 1743. Sliding bases and pull-off caps; floral chased decoration; engraved coat-of-arms on front of each piece; marks on tea canisters for Samuel Taylor, London 1751, and on sugar box for John Newton (to whom Taylor had been apprenticed), 1743; fitted in japanned tin chest (probably of Pontypool origin; see Chapter 15: Japanned Metal, Figure 15.2) with brass handle and escutcheon; interior lined with velvet. Height (of canisters) 10.8 cm (4 ¼ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.18: Pair of silver canisters and a sugar bowl, dated 1765. Floral chased decoration; marks for Samuel Taylor, London, 1765; fitted in shagreen-covered wooden chest with silver mounts marked ‘IW’. Height (of sugar bowl) 14 cm (5 ½ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.20: Pair of silver canisters, dated 1751. Repoussé Chinese-style decoration; front of each canister engraved with coat-of-arms; marks for Elizabeth Godfrey, London, 1751. Height 14 cm (5 ½ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.21: Pair of silver-gilt canisters, dated 1768. All surfaces engraved with trellis pattern with sprays of flowers; centre of lids engraved with initial ‘W’ beneath a Baron’s coronet; marks for Pierre Gillois, London 1768. Height 11.4 cm (4 ½ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.22: Pair of silver canisters, dated 1774. Tea canister (right) fitted with domed cap; sugar canister (left) with larger detachable cover; chased decoration of vertical pales alternately matted and burnished; oval cartouches on front of each canister with engraved initials ‘JAC’; fitted in shagreen case (not shown) with velvet-lined interior; marks for Emick Romer, London, 1774. A pair of similar urns in use is depicted in Johann Zoffany’s painting of the Dashwood and Auriol families at tea in a garden (Figure S.20). Height 19 cm (7 ½ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.24: Pair of silver canisters, dated 1771. Crate-shaped and engraved with wooden staves and Chinese characters translating as Chang and Yi, Prosperity and Justice; tea flower finials; marks for Aaron Lestourgeon, London, 1771. Almost all surviving examples of this type bear his mark. Height 8.9 cm (3 ½ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.25: Pair of silver canisters, dated 1771. Engraved decoration of tea-picking scenes; marks for London, 1771, and maker’s mark ‘T.I.’ (unidentified); fitted in tortoiseshell-veneered chest with cast silver mounts; shield beneath escutcheon engraved with a coat-of-arms. Height (of canisters) 10.2 cm (4 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.26: Silver caddy, dated 1787. Bright cut engraved decoration on borders; hinged ring handle; marked on base and lid ‘463gr., 14oz., 18dwt.’; marks for William Vincent, London, 1787. Height 10.2 cm (4 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.27: Pair of silver canisters, dated 1781. Engraved decoration including ovals containing monogram ‘PJR’ on front, and coat-of-arms for Rashleigh, as borne by Philip Rashleigh (1729-1811) and his wife, Jane Pole, on reverse; unusual pierced fretwork bases; marks for Hester Bateman, London, 1781. Height 14.6 cm (5 ¾ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.28: Pair of silver canisters and a silver-mounted glass sugar bowl, dated 1798. Caddies with engraved decoration: on the front, armorials of Admiral Lord Nelson; on the rear, coronets of a viscount and duke set between crests of a chelengk (turban ornament) on the crown of a Spanish man-of-war with the motto Faith and Works; on the lids, initial ‘N’ below a viscount’s coronet, and ‘B’ beneath a ducal one; marks for Robert Sharp, London, 1798; raised lids of glass sugar bowl also engraved with Nelson’s initials and crest; marks for Robert and David Hennell, London, 1800; fitted in satinwood-veneered chest with tulip wood cross-banding and boxwood stringing; silver mounts, the hinges with marks for Robert Bushby, London, 1798; plaque on lid also engraved with Nelson’s initials; interior lined with blue baize. Height (of canister) 17.1 cm (6 ¾ in). Private collection, photograph courtesy of Sotheby 

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Figure 17.29: Small silver caddy, dated 1780. Bright-cut and roulette-work engraved decoration; marks for Robert Hennell, London, 1780. This caddy is, unusually, approximately half the size and weight of a standard caddy of the period. Height 8 cm (3 1/8 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.30: Pair of silver canisters with matching sugar canister, dated 1795. Lids engraved with initials ‘AL’ within Garter motto, with Earl’s coronet above; hinged ring handles; fitted in ebony chest with reeded silver mounts, including ram’s-head handles at sides; interior lined with green velvet; canisters and handles on chest bear marks for Paul Storr, London, 1795. Height (of canisters) 15.9 cm (6 ¼ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.31: Set of three silver canisters with a satinwood-veneered chest with matching silver decoration, dated 1798. Canisters, and silver borders of chest, with bright cut engraved decoration of running patterns; canisters engraved on front with initial ‘R’ within a wreath; dished and domed lids with hinged ring handles; sugar box has additional hinged carrying handle; all pieces with marks for John Emes, London, 1798; chest bears plate engraved ‘ROBERT RUSSELL, EXMOUTH’ and later engraving, ‘D. Winthringham Stable Great Grandson of Robert Russell’. Height (of caddies) 15.2 cm (6 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.32: Silver caddy, c. 1790. Boat-form caddy suspended in a frame; ring handles at ends which screw in to release the caddy; small hinged door at front for access to keyhole; bright cut engraved decoration; engraved crests on hinged lid and rear of frame; marks for William Pitts & Joseph Preedy, London, 1790. Height 20.3 cm (8 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.34: Old Sheffield plate caddy, c. 1780. Reeded wire around rim and base; stamped decoration with central wrigglework cartouche in imitation of contemporary bright-cut engraving surrounding engraved initials ‘S’ and ‘EB’; drop loop handle on lid; a design for a similar caddy appears in a Matthew Boulton Silver & Plate Co. pattern book. Height 8.6 cm (3 3/8 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.35: Pair of small Old Sheffield plate canisters, c. 1790. Cap lids engraved with ‘GREEN’ and ‘BOHEA’; engraved decoration with shields on front and rear; base of each canister marked with initials ‘DHC’. Height 7 cm (2 ¾ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.36: Old Sheffield plate chest containing a pair of canisters and a glass sugar bowl, c. 1815. Cast finial, handles and feet; applied acanthus borders; engraved coat-of-arms on front of chest and engraved crest on fronts of canisters; cut-glass sugar bowl mounted with Sheffield-plated rim. A Sheffield plate tea chest is very unusual. Height (of chest) 18.4 cm (7 ¼ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.37: Old Sheffield plate ‘tantalus’ tea caddy stand, c. 1805. Pair of caddies with cap lids in a locking frame of wirework construction; central handle connects to scrolling arms which hold caddies in place; caddies with gadrooned borders and engraved friezes. Height 22 cm (8 5/8 in). Private collection 

Figure 17.41: Set of two silver canisters and a matching sugar vase, dated 1811. Fitted in mahogany chest with two silver caddy spoons; decorated with bands of classical ornament; gadrooned borders; part-fluting on lower bodies; sculptural finials; marks for John Houle, London, 1811. Height 15.9 cm (6 ¼ in). Private collection

Figure 17.42: Pair of silver-gilt canisters with two matching spoons, dated 1832. Canisters each engraved on front with a crest and a Marquess’ coronet; stamped ‘Storr & Mortimer’ and numbered respectively 1 and 3, indicating originally part of set of three; marks for Paul Storr, London, 1832; also marked with scratchweights ‘38,9’ and ‘38,3’; spoons of different lengths, suggesting one for tea and one for sugar. Height 18.4 cm (7 ¼ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.43: Pair of silver canisters, dated 1849. Pagoda form with chased chinoiserie decoration; marks for Charles and George Fox, London, 1849. Height 12.7 cm (5 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.44: Silver caddy, dated 1859. Turned ivory and silver knob; engraved decoration; marks for Joseph Angell Jr., London, 1859. This caddy is a reproduction of an earlier Georgian design, resembling examples by Hester Bateman and other caddy makers of the 1780s. Height 10.8 cm (4 ¼ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.45: Pair of silver tea canisters with matching sugar canister, dated 1844. Each with scroll base and chased chinoiserie and rococo decoration; canisters with detachable sliding covers with applied finials; sugar canister with similar hinged cover; marks for Charles & George Fox, London, 1844; fitted in tortoiseshell chest with silver mounts with marks for Robert Garrard, also London, 1844; interior of chest lined with blue velvet. The chest and its canisters are an almost exact, but larger, copy of the eighteenth-century set shown in Chapter 11: Tortoiseshell, Figure 11.1. Height (of canisters) 12.1 cm (4 ¾ in); (of sugar box) 13 cm (5 1/8 in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.47: Small electroplate caddy by Elkington & Co., c. 1848. Bright cut engraved decoration on borders; interior with two compartments with central raised dividing section; hinged lid bears cipher of ‘Great Western Railways’ with Royal crown above. Possibly made as part of a service for the Royal Train. Height 7 cm (2 ¾ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.49: Silver tea and coffee service by Robert Hennell, dated 1857. Service comprises teapot, coffee pot, milk jug, sugar basin, butter dish and tea canister; all pieces with chased decoration in rococo style; silver-gilt interiors. Courtesy of Payne & Son (Goldsmiths) Ltd, Oxford 

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Figure 17.50: Silver caddy, dated 1880. Engraved ‘Japanesque’ decoration; detachable finial in form of a moth; marks for Henry Atkin of Sheffield, 1880. Height 10.8 cm (4 ¼ in). Private collection 

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Figure 17.51: Silver caddy by Charles Ashbee, dated 1900. Chased and repoussé decoration of stylised dolphins, and ovals of blue enamel on all sides; bears the mark ‘GofH Ltd’, London. Height 12.5 cm (5 in); diameter 10 cm (4 in). The Peartree Collection 

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Figure 17.52: Silver caddy with matching spoon, c. 1903. Enamel decoration around lid; designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., as part of their ‘Cymric’ range. Height 14 cm (5 ½ in). Image courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh 

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Figure 17.53: Silver caddy with matching caddy spoon designed, and possibly made, by James Herbert McNair; dated 1897. Repoussé figurative panels on front and sides, and applied stylized plant motifs on lid and rear, the rear holding a removeable caddy spoon, the bowl in the form of a pomegranate; bears mark for James Reid & Co. who were possibly responsible for its registration with the assay office, rather than its manufacture. Height 9.5 cm (3 ½ in); width 9.5 cm (3 ½ in); depth 9.5 cm (3 ½ in). The Peartree Collection