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Dimensions: 72cm, 28 1/2 in long

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Weight: 7910gr, 254oz 6dwt

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Provenance: THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Sir Lionel Tollemache (1708-70), 5th Baronet and 4th Earl of Dysart, of Ham House, Richmond
by descent in the Tollemache family, Ham House, removed from Ham House prior to being taken over by the National Trust, 1917
sold at J Trevor & sons, 12 May 1955, lot 95, to Asprey for £2,900 (see Connossieur, October 1955, Asprey & Co advertisement), from whom purchased by the father of the present owner

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Literature:

¹Christopher Rowell et al, Ham House, The National Trust, London, 2002; Evelyn Pritchard, Ham House and its owners through four centuries 1610-1948, 1995, p38-40; Hon Vicary Gibbs (ed), The Complete Peerage, 1916, vol IV, p564; Sotheby's, London, 20th November 2003, lot 204 for further comments from Mrs Delaney regarding the engagement of Grace Carteret and report of a her involvement in serious coaching accident
²James Lomax, 'Silver for the English Dining Room 1700-1820', p124-5 in A King's Feast, Exhibition Catalogue, Kensington Palace, June-September 1991
³James Lomax, British Silver at Temple Newsam, 1992, p87-91
⁴Partridge Catalogue, November 1998; A Grimwade, Rococo Silver 1727-65, 1971, 1974, plate 46A
⁵Christianne Perrin, François Thomas Germain, Orfèvre des Rois, 1993, p30-1
⁶Elaine Barr, 'The French Heritage', p90-7, Royal French Silver: The Property of George Ortiz, Sotheby's, New York, 13th November 1996, see also lot 6, p82-4; the John Hugh Le Sage candelabra are now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, see Christopher Hartop, The Huguenot Legacy English Silver 1680-1760..., 1996, p126-31; the Charles Kandler candelabra are now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, acquired 2001
⁷Philippa Glanville, Silver in England, 1987, p76-7; Many thanks to Philippa Glanville for this reference
⁸E Alfred Jones, Catalogue of the Collection of the Plate of William Francis Farrer, 1924, p144, plate LXXVII; Timothy Schroder, English Domestic Silver 1500-1900, 1988, p184
⁹The Quiet Conquest: The Huguenots 1685-1985, Victoria & Albert Museum Exhibition catalogue, 1985, p238
¹⁰Christopher Lever, Goldsmiths and Silversmiths of England, 1975, p190-6
¹¹Isabelle Cartier, 'The Chesterfield ice-pails', things I, Winter 1994

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Notes: Lionel Tollemache was born at Helmingham Hall in 1708 and became the 4^th Earl of Dysart upon the death of his grandfather in 1727. It was also at this time that the young Earl embarked upon an extensive Grand Tour, visiting France, Switzerland and Italy. In 1729, aged 32, he married Grace Carteret, aged 16, daughter of Lord Cateret, later 1^st Earl of Granville. Grace Cateret was a talented amateur artist who painted pastel portraits of the family and applied shell work decoration to furniture. Grace was well known for her colourful dress and also for her strong character, upon which her cousin Mrs Delaney commented, '..her gaiety was all external, for a heart she is the most wretched virtuous woman that I know'¹.

By the time the 4^th Earl inherited Ham House it was in a poor state. A detailed structural survey by the 4^th Earl's architect John James concluded that the exterior of Ham required urgent attention, particularly the bay windows and door frontispiece which was 'gone so far as to endanger even pulling the Roof after it'. The 4^th Earl's account books detail extensive repairs throughout the 1740s and 1750s, during which time the bays were rebuilt, frontispiece removed and sash windows replaced. The 4^th Earl also devoted much attention to improving and refurbishing the interior of Ham. The Marble Dining Room was redecorated and a new family drawing room created. The latest furnishings, silver and upholstery were purchased for Ham, as detailed in the surviving account books still retained by the family. The 4^th Earl was also clearly a passionate collector, he purchased paintings at auction and was a great bibliophile. The Earl formed one of the finest libraries in Europe, acquiring important works from the Harleian Library, including no less than six books by the earliest English printer, William Caxton (c1422-91). Much of this magnificent library was dispersed in the Buckminster Library sale at Sotheby's, London, 30th May 1938. Horace Walpole referred to the Earl, who was created a Knight of the Thistle in 1743, as 'a strange brute' and 'an indigent usurer'. He died in 1770 at the age of 73 and was buried at Helmingham with great ceremony.

At this time a surtout (or epergne) was one of the most important and extravagant pieces of dining plate, ranking, for example, alongside wine coolers. Lord Chesterfield when appointed Ambassador to the Hague included amongst his issue an 'Aparn with all its appertinencys' at 820oz together with wine coolers at 388oz. Unfortunately the epergne is now lost, but probably bore similarities to that illustrated in his cook's book, Vincent La Chapelle, The Modern Cook, published in 1736. La Chapelle featured an epergne in his table plans and noted the 'surtout to be left upon the Table till the Dessert is ser'd". Lady Grisell Baille described how an epergne was used at a dinner for the Duke of Chandos at Cannons, 12^th April 1725. For the second course she notes that the three epergne (or rings) had 'five plates, 4 low and one higher in the middle in each, 1^st ring a green goose, a chicken a Rabet. The midle ring blang Mangie, broun Mangie, brunt cream, custart white and custart green or Tanzie. 3^rd ring a dukline, turkie port, 2 pigions broiled chicken, rabet'. Thus, whilst the two side epergnes held poultry for the second course, the central tureen contained desserts for later in the meal².

The Dysart epergne is highly sophisticated and would have been greatly admired by those around the table. This epergne belongs to the second phase of development of the surtout, succeeded those examples such as the Kirkleatham epergne at Temple Newsam, Leeds by David Willaume and Anne Tanqueary, 1731, and the Williams surtout, Edward Feline, 1730, sold Sotheby's, New York, 19th October 1995, lot 454, and now in the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, which have a central soup tureen, cruets and casters attached³. By the mid-18^th Century, this had been replaced by a central basket and various sized dishes and candle branches which could be interchanged according to various courses and desired ambience throughout the dinner (see figures 2, 3 and 5). These versatile centrepieces would have provided a homogeneous decorative dining scheme as the dishes could be seperated and formally placed upon the table. Epergnes of comparable sophistication include: the Hope epergne for John Hope, 2^nd Earl of Hopetoun, Eliza Godfrey, 1753 and another by James Schruder, 1742. The Dysart epergne is without doubt one of the finest and best known preserved from this group⁴.

The 4^th Earl appears to have patronised the leading Huguenot goldsmiths of the period, in a similar manner to the 2^nd Earl of Warrington. However, unlike Warrington's silver, many of Dysart's pieces reflected the latest contemporary, albeit slightly restrained, rococo taste. The 4th Earl was well educated through his Grand Tour and shown himself to be at the forefront of fashion when he purchased the pair of figural candelabra by pre-eminent Royal Parisan goldsmith, Thomas Germain, Paris, 1732-4 now in the Firestone Collection, Detroit Insitute of Arts⁵. He had anticipated the importance of this rococo design ahead of his English contemporaries - the model was subsequently adopted with slight variations by Charles Kandler, 1738, by John Hugh le Sage in 1744 for George II and George Wickes for the Earl of Kildare in the same year⁶. The Germain candelabra were sold in the same sale as this epergne, at J Trevor and Sons, London, 12th May 1955, lot 81. Much of the 4^th Earl's English silver was sold at Christie's, London, 13 May 1953 and included pieces by the master goldsmiths such as James Schruder, David Willaume, Augustine Courtauld and Anne Tanqueary, as well as others by Paul Crespin.

Philippa Glanville has studied the 4th Earl's bills for plate and found that he appears to have acquired splendid household and dining silver through regular orders begun in the late 1720s and into the 1740s⁷. Glanville identifies an early order for a shaving jug and soap box in 1729, presumably those by Anne Tanqueary, 1729, bearing the arms of the 4^th Earl, sold in the Christie's 1953 sale and recently sold at Sotheby's, New York, 24 October 2000, lots 412 and 413 (see figure 6). Also corresponding with the bills is a 'brade basket' from David Willaume which cost £1014s 9d. This had the arms of the 4^th Earl and his wife, David Willaume, 1733 and was sold Sotheby's, London, 20 November 2003, lot 204 (see figure 7).

By the late 1730s Paul Crespin appears to have been the principal supplier of plate to the 4th Earl. Glanville notes in the early 1740s orders for serving dishes which include four of 1743 sold from the Poke Collection, Sotheby's, 20th November 2003 lot 171 and subsequently a pair of 1750, lot 172. Also ordered were three naturalistic scallop shell dishes from Paul Crespin, 1740/1, similar to examples produced by Paul de Lamerie, and which are now in a private collection. With respect to this gradual accumulation of dining plate, Glanville remarks that 'the centrepiece, the largest (259 ounces) and most expensive individual item, came from Crespin only in 1748'. A superb chocolate pot, 1738, was also produced by Crespin for the 4th Earl, and this survives complete with its molinet in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford⁸. This was intended for the comparatively private occasion of breakfast and thus was produced in finely proportioned plain bottle form and engraved with the arms of the 4th Earl and his wife, Lady Cateret. The family papers record that Crespin supplied this pot on 17th June 1738 at a cost of £14 4s 1d⁹.

Paul Crespin (1694-1759) was one of the foremost Huguenot goldsmiths of the first half of the 18th Century (see figure 1 and 4). He was the son of Daniel Crespin of St Giles in the Fields and apprenticed to the Huguenot Jean Pons in 1713¹⁰. Crespin registered his first mark by December 1721, when he was described as free of the Longbowstring Makers' Company. He was closely linked with Paul de Lamerie and his circle of goldsmiths and clients. This is most clearly demonstrated by the magnificent pair of wine coolers issued by the Jewel House for Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773) and Ambassador to the Hague, sold Sotheby's, London, 4th February 1988 and now divided between the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Gallery of Scotland, which bear Paul Crespin's mark overstriking that of Paul de Lamerie¹¹. Crespin produced works for the Dukes of Portland, Somerset and Devonshire, and the Earls of Rockingham and Albemarle. He also supplied plate for important foreign commissions, including a bathing vessel weighing 6030oz for the King of Portugal and various plate, produced alongside other Huguenot goldsmiths, for Empress Catherine in 1726. A rare surviving portrait of Paul Crespin by Pierre Subleyras, circa 1726, is in the Victoria & Albert Museum. In the painting Crespin, with his shirt sleeves rolled up, holds a baroque vase after the designs of Enea Vico, showing his admiration for a bold style from which many rococo silversmiths sought inspiration.