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rococo silver
53–64 Chancery Lane London WC2A 1QS United Kingdom T +44 207 242 7624 www.koopmanrareart.com
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Every period looks at the treasures of the past with different eyes. Here we present, in a new way, some of the finest works created by the artists of the English rococo, continuing Koopman Rare Art’s tradition of innovation combined with the latest scholarship.
On the covers: a pair of sauce-boats by Paul Crespin, 1752, recently sold to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Rienzi Collection Left: handle detail of basket by Robert Tyrill, 1752
rococo silver
koopman rare art
Like many art-historical terms, the word rococo was coined in the nineteenth century. It had somewhat pejorative overtones and indeed for much of the last two centuries the rococo style has suffered many slings and arrows, perhaps the most damning being that it is frivolous. But nothing could have been further from the ideas of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier and the other early proponents of the rococo in the 1720s and 30s. They were reacting against the heaviness of the baroque and against that style’s use of architectural features such as columns and pediments on domestic articles. Swept away were ponderous symmetry and rhythmic patterns, to be replaced by the curve, the scroll, and lively but seldom uncontrolled asymmetry. Yet always the rococo remained dignified and certainly it was never insubstantial.
The natural world, instead of being subjected to the heavy hand of the classical canon, was celebrated for its naturalness. Sea-shells, leaves and flowers could all be depicted realistically, giving ornament a newfound richness. It was this richness that gave unprecedented opportunities to the silver modeller and chaser. New expertise in lost-wax casting enabled an entire generation of virtuoso craftsmen to combine naturalistic casting with embossing and engraving to create sculpture in silver. Though the style had its roots in Italy and France, it was soon enthusiastically taken up by artists further north. The German principalities produced their own distinctive brand of extravagance, but it was in London that a careful assimilation of the baroque with the new rococo and naturalistic motifs provided a brief flowering of talent in
Detail of one of four candlesticks, James Shruder, 1743
the mid-eighteenth century. While symmetry of form was often retained, the decoration, whether applied, chased or engraved, was rococo. As London became the economic powerhouse of Europe, it attracted designers and craftsmen from other countries, most notably Germany, who brought with them their own interpretations of the new style.
Most significant of these innovations was the work of the “Maynard Master�, the name given to one or more craftsmen who collaborated with Paul de Lamerie and others of his group. It was an entirely new and distinctively English interpretation of this assimilation of baroque and rococo motifs which continues to be explored by scholars.
four candlesticks Silver London, 1743 James Shruder H 24.5 cm
These spectacular candlesticks are the high point of James Shruder’s distinctive interpretation of baroque and rococo motifs. Believed to be of German origin, Shruder is known to have modelled in papier mâché as well as to have submitted silver for marking at Goldsmiths’ Hall. He was at the centre of a group of brilliant designers and craftsmen, most of them émigrés, who had workshops in the crowded streets of Soho.
basket Silver London, 1731 John Edwards L 34.9 cm
This monumental basket is a masterpiece of the baroque and provides a stunning contrast to the last item in this catalogue, an entirely rococo basket made some twenty years later. The decoration of this earlier basket is driven by exuberance contained within imposing boundaries – the openwork foliate scrolls with wild-animal heads that form the horizontal band above the foot have a liveliness that presages the rococo. The basket was made for Brownlow, 8th Earl of Exeter (1701–1754), an important patron of the London silversmiths. He greatly added to the silver collection at Burghley, his ancestral seat near Stamford which was built in the 1560s by Robert Cecil, Queen Elizabeth’s minister. The mate to this basket remains at Burghley. John Edwards was Subordinate Goldsmith to the King and his name appears frequently in the ledgers of the Jewel House. He specialized in imposing and superbly crafted display pieces.
punch-bowl Silver London, 1744 Edward Feline D 30 cm
This imposing bowl, almost a sphere, provides a canvas for the lively engraved decoration of sea-shells, trelliswork and flowers that adorns the shoulder, and for the extravagant cartouche that encloses the coat of arms. The bowl belonged to Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751), rake, man of letters, close friend of Alexander Pope and controversial statesman. A lifelong supporter of the cause of the exiled Stuarts, much of his life was spent in France.
sugar-box Silver London, 1742 Eliza Godfrey H 11.5 cm
The surface of this baroque casket is a riot of asymmetrical naturalistic decoration, done in a skilled mixture of flat-chasing (embossing where the surface of the metal remains essentially flat) and engraving. It is surmounted by an asymmetrical leaf handle.
salver Silver
London, 1730 Simon Pantin D 46 cm
At first glance, this imposing tray is a baroque work. But closer inspection reveals rococo elements grafted onto the massive form of the moulded border, such as where the heads of the goddesses emerge from asymmetrical scrolls. Yet the most rococo elements are in the magnificent engraved cartouche in the centre which is probably the work of Joseph Sympson. Here a country maiden and her swain lean nonchalantly against pedestals amid flowers and scrolls in the “picturesque� manner. The overall effect is one of lightness and elegance.
pair of sauce-boats Silver
London, 1749 Paul de Lamerie L 20.7 cm
The dragons that adorn the handles of these sauce-boats were popular motifs for rococo silver. Beth Wees has commented: “The traditional evil dragon of Western art was transformed by rococo designers into a more beneficent creature fashioned after the Chinese model� (Wees, English, Irish & Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1997, p. 300).
coffee pot Silver
London, 1747 Edward Wakelin of Wickes & Wakelin H 24.5 cm
This coffee pot was commissioned with other rococo table wares, by Robert Balch (1720–1779) from the firm of Wickes & Wakelin and is recorded in their invoice dated June 1748. The pot cost £18 17s which included £3 for the wooden handle. The firm was one of the most successful in mid-eighteenth-century London and could draw on a wide range of suppliers of designs as well as finished silverware. Exhibited in the landmark 1984 Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition, Rococo: Art and Design in England, this pot is one of the finest examples of the “picturesque” rococo so popular in England during the 1740s.
“Warwick� cruet stand Silver gilt London, 1744 Samuel Wood H 28.5 cm
This compendium of casters for sugar, pepper and mustard and bottles for oil and vinegar is in the traditional form of the middle years of the eighteenth century. Not only is it distinguished by its exceptionally large size and weight (141 ounces), but also by the superb quality of its rococo chasing of shells.
The “fruits of the sea” which embellish the casters and bottle tops of this set are chased with exceptional boldness. Combined with the asymmetrical scrolls of the caster covers, they create a riot of rococo ornament on an essentially baroque, symmetrical, object. The set belonged in the early nineteenth century to Nathan Meyer Rothschild (1777–1836), founder of the English branch of the banking dynasty. It appeared in the celebrated Rothschild sale in London in 1937.
pair of candlesticks Silver
London, 1765 John Parker & Edward Wakelin H 30.5 cm
These fine candlesticks are based on an engraved design by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695–1750). Besides interpreting the rococo in their own decidedly characteristic way, silversmiths in London also used designs by their French contemporaries. In the case of Meissonnier, his renowned designs were engraved by Gabriel Huquier, and in book form enjoyed wide circulation throughout Europe.
Gabriel Huquier after Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, Design for a candlestick, engraving, Paris, c. 1750
basket Silver
London, 1752 Robert Tyrill L 36 cm
With many characteristics of the so-called “Maynard Master”, this important basket places Robert Tyrill, a hitherto somewhat shadowy figure, firmly in the “Lamerie Group”, a loose network of designers, craftsmen and retailers who developed a distinctly English interpretation of baroque and rococo forms. The cherubs with pronounced foreheads, the rippling scalework and spirited execution are all features found on the Maynard dish of 1736 in the Cahn Collection. The arms are those of the 3rd Duke of Chandos (1731–1789), and this basket probably formed part of the plate he received on his coming of age in 1752.
Directed by Christopher Hartop Photographed by Guy Hills at Wolterton Hall, Norfolk, by kind permission of Lord and Lady Walpole Designed by Chris Jones, Design4Science Ltd Produced by Studio Fasoli, Verona, Italy Published for Koopman Rare Art by John Adamson, 90 Hertford Street, Cambridge CB4 3AQ, England Š 2011 Koopman Rare Art
Previous page: detail of basket by Robert Tyrill, 1752 Right: detail of coffee pot by Edward Wakelin, 1747
Rococo cover artwork_SF_d4s 26/02/11 11:46 Pagina 1
rococo silver
53–64 Chancery Lane London WC2A 1QS United Kingdom T +44 207 242 7624 www.koopmanrareart.com
koopman rare art
koopman rare art
rococo silver koopman rare art