拍品专文
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Bt., and all aspects of his patronage of Robert Adam have been closely examined in recent years. In particular, his purchases of plate and his use of Adam as a designer of silver have been the subject of extensive research by Oliver Fairclough, curator of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, whose findings were published in The Burlington Magazine last year.
It is clear that from an early age Sir Watkin was determined to patronize the leading artists and craftsmen of his day. Having succeeded to the title and the extensive family estates in north Wales and England at the age of six months, he enjoyed an unprecedented income - some 27,000 annually - on attaining his majority in 1770. At first Sir Watkin patronized the royal silversmith, Thomas Heming, spending nearly 2,000 with him between 1765 and 1773. Among his purchases from Heming were the magnificent silver-gilt toilet service commissioned for his first wife Lady Henrietta Somerset, in 1769, and the well-known silver-gilt punch bowl designed by Robert Adam and made in 1771, both of which are now in the National Museum of Wales.
About this time Sir Watkin engaged the Adam brothers to design a town house for him in the purest neo-classical style at 20 St. James's Square. Over the course of the next five years the Adams' provided a wealth of designs not merely for the architecture and decoration of the house, but also for its furniture and fittings including over twenty designs for silver. These drawings, together with approximately eighty others, are in the collection of the Sir John Soane Museum, London, and have recently been the subject of extensive study by Michael Snodin. The St. James's Square silver designs together form an entire dinner service in the mature Adam style, containing elements of the overall decorative scheme of the house. This "Great Table Service" comprised two pairs of soup tureens, candelabra, salt cellars, sauce boats, dishes and plates, much of it with the same ram's heads and decorative medallions that appear on the furniture and plasterwork designed for the "eating room".
The idea of a complete dinner service with a unity of form and decoration is a development of the mid-Georgian period. Radical changes in the way in which people sat down to eat during the period had also created a demand for a host of new components such as soup tureens, sauce boats and centerpieces. Robert Adam's service for Sir Watkin goes a step further and integrates itself into the decorative scheme of the town house.
The existence of the drawings in the Soane Museum have made it possible for much of the "Great Table Service" to be re-assembled, at least through photographs, in recent years. The service had been dispersed at auction by descendants of the 4th baronet in 1946. Two of the salt cellars, which are supported on dolphins, are now in Nottingham Castle Museum, as are two of the plates. The four candelabra are in the collection of Lloyds of London, while two of the sauceboats are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, has in recent years acquired the silver-gilt dessert service and one of the pair of smaller soup tureens (sold by Sotheby's, New York, November 2-3, 1989, lot 358).
The smaller soup tureens, some 34cm. long, were, like the present examples, also given matching stands at the beginning of the nineteenth century. According to the 1946 sale catalogue, one of the stands of the smaller pair (and presumably the one whose present whereabouts is unknown) bore London hallmarks for 1806. The smaller tureens have pendant ring handles issuing from the ram's heads and have loop handles on the cover. Adam's drawing of January 1773 shows the cover surmounted by two sphynxes which were omitted in the final silver version, presumably for practical reasons, as was some of the anthemion and husk decoration.
Two versions exist of the design for the present (and larger) tureens. The earlier, dated January, 1773, shows the vase-shaped body supported on winged sphynxes with an openwork vine applied around the shoulder. These were evidently deemed impractical by the silversmith and are omitted from the second version of the design, dated March 1773 (illustrated here). The form of the finished tureens most closely follows this drawing except that the husk swags on the sides have been omitted and the band of interlaced rosettes have been moved further down to the edge of the cover. "The wreathed rosettes at the shoulders echo the dining room's coffered ceiling, and the medallions of putti those on the sideboard urns" observed Oliver Fairclough writing in The Burlington Magazine in June, 1995, when the whereabouts of the present tureens were unknown.
The tureens offered here, as well as most of the rest of the service, bear the maker's mark IC which has been attributed to John Carter. The volume of largeworker's marks entered at Goldsmiths' Hall between 1758-1773 is missing, making a positive attribution impossible but there exists enough circumstantial evidence to point to Carter. Carter ran foul of the Goldsmiths' Company several times during the 1760s and is recorded as supplying plate to Parker & Wakelin. In 1773 he is recorded as a manufacturer of large plate working at Bartholomew Close, Aldersgate Street. Carter is best known as a maker of candlesticks and salvers.
Research by Oliver Fairclough into Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn's papers, preserved in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, has shown that the "Great Table Service" was supplied by Joseph Creswell, described as a "toyman" who was one of the first tenants of the Adam brothers' Adelphi. Creswell was evidently a retailer in luxury goods and was obviously associated with the Adam brothers. Why however Sir Watkin should have decided to place the order for the great dinner service with Creswell and not with Heming, the royal goldsmith, is perhaps explained by the surviving bills and correspondence. It is clear that by 1773 Heming was pressing Sir Watkin for payment for the silver he had purchased since 1768 and Sir Watkin had no choice but to look elsewhere for a supplier who would be pleased to offer generous credit to such a distinguished client. A letter from Samuel Sidebotham, Sir Watkin's servant, to the agent Mr. Chambre on February 3, 1774, observes, "Mr. Heming wrote Sir Watkin a very huffing letter this day about his money. Sir W w'd be glad it was discharged as soon as you can, he has found out that Mr. Creswell is making the new Service, also I think he w'd not have wrote in the manner he did..." (quoted in Fairclough, op. cit., p. 385). Nevertheless, Creswell could not avoid going bankrupt in 1775. Sir Watkin, having spent so lavishly on his house in Wales as well as on the townhouse in London, had debts amounting to some 100,000 by 1776.
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn is perhaps one of the most significant patrons of the middle years of the eighteenth century. His single-minded quest for excellence found a perfect partner in Robert Adam and the finished interiors of 20 St. James's Square. The "Great Table Service" laid out in the "eating room" must have represented the most complete expression of Adam's neo-classicism. The newly-rediscovered tureens offered here, with their patron, designer, maker and supplier, are unparalleled as examples of documented silver.
Christie's is grateful to Oliver Fairclough, curator, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
Captions
Robert Adam, circa 1773, attributed to George Willison, oil on canvas. Reproduced courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London
"Terrine for Sir Watkin Wynn Bart., Adelphi, 9th March 1773" by Robert Adam, pen, pencil and wash. Reproduced by courtesy of the Sir John Soane Museum, London
It is clear that from an early age Sir Watkin was determined to patronize the leading artists and craftsmen of his day. Having succeeded to the title and the extensive family estates in north Wales and England at the age of six months, he enjoyed an unprecedented income - some 27,000 annually - on attaining his majority in 1770. At first Sir Watkin patronized the royal silversmith, Thomas Heming, spending nearly 2,000 with him between 1765 and 1773. Among his purchases from Heming were the magnificent silver-gilt toilet service commissioned for his first wife Lady Henrietta Somerset, in 1769, and the well-known silver-gilt punch bowl designed by Robert Adam and made in 1771, both of which are now in the National Museum of Wales.
About this time Sir Watkin engaged the Adam brothers to design a town house for him in the purest neo-classical style at 20 St. James's Square. Over the course of the next five years the Adams' provided a wealth of designs not merely for the architecture and decoration of the house, but also for its furniture and fittings including over twenty designs for silver. These drawings, together with approximately eighty others, are in the collection of the Sir John Soane Museum, London, and have recently been the subject of extensive study by Michael Snodin. The St. James's Square silver designs together form an entire dinner service in the mature Adam style, containing elements of the overall decorative scheme of the house. This "Great Table Service" comprised two pairs of soup tureens, candelabra, salt cellars, sauce boats, dishes and plates, much of it with the same ram's heads and decorative medallions that appear on the furniture and plasterwork designed for the "eating room".
The idea of a complete dinner service with a unity of form and decoration is a development of the mid-Georgian period. Radical changes in the way in which people sat down to eat during the period had also created a demand for a host of new components such as soup tureens, sauce boats and centerpieces. Robert Adam's service for Sir Watkin goes a step further and integrates itself into the decorative scheme of the town house.
The existence of the drawings in the Soane Museum have made it possible for much of the "Great Table Service" to be re-assembled, at least through photographs, in recent years. The service had been dispersed at auction by descendants of the 4th baronet in 1946. Two of the salt cellars, which are supported on dolphins, are now in Nottingham Castle Museum, as are two of the plates. The four candelabra are in the collection of Lloyds of London, while two of the sauceboats are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, has in recent years acquired the silver-gilt dessert service and one of the pair of smaller soup tureens (sold by Sotheby's, New York, November 2-3, 1989, lot 358).
The smaller soup tureens, some 34cm. long, were, like the present examples, also given matching stands at the beginning of the nineteenth century. According to the 1946 sale catalogue, one of the stands of the smaller pair (and presumably the one whose present whereabouts is unknown) bore London hallmarks for 1806. The smaller tureens have pendant ring handles issuing from the ram's heads and have loop handles on the cover. Adam's drawing of January 1773 shows the cover surmounted by two sphynxes which were omitted in the final silver version, presumably for practical reasons, as was some of the anthemion and husk decoration.
Two versions exist of the design for the present (and larger) tureens. The earlier, dated January, 1773, shows the vase-shaped body supported on winged sphynxes with an openwork vine applied around the shoulder. These were evidently deemed impractical by the silversmith and are omitted from the second version of the design, dated March 1773 (illustrated here). The form of the finished tureens most closely follows this drawing except that the husk swags on the sides have been omitted and the band of interlaced rosettes have been moved further down to the edge of the cover. "The wreathed rosettes at the shoulders echo the dining room's coffered ceiling, and the medallions of putti those on the sideboard urns" observed Oliver Fairclough writing in The Burlington Magazine in June, 1995, when the whereabouts of the present tureens were unknown.
The tureens offered here, as well as most of the rest of the service, bear the maker's mark IC which has been attributed to John Carter. The volume of largeworker's marks entered at Goldsmiths' Hall between 1758-1773 is missing, making a positive attribution impossible but there exists enough circumstantial evidence to point to Carter. Carter ran foul of the Goldsmiths' Company several times during the 1760s and is recorded as supplying plate to Parker & Wakelin. In 1773 he is recorded as a manufacturer of large plate working at Bartholomew Close, Aldersgate Street. Carter is best known as a maker of candlesticks and salvers.
Research by Oliver Fairclough into Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn's papers, preserved in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, has shown that the "Great Table Service" was supplied by Joseph Creswell, described as a "toyman" who was one of the first tenants of the Adam brothers' Adelphi. Creswell was evidently a retailer in luxury goods and was obviously associated with the Adam brothers. Why however Sir Watkin should have decided to place the order for the great dinner service with Creswell and not with Heming, the royal goldsmith, is perhaps explained by the surviving bills and correspondence. It is clear that by 1773 Heming was pressing Sir Watkin for payment for the silver he had purchased since 1768 and Sir Watkin had no choice but to look elsewhere for a supplier who would be pleased to offer generous credit to such a distinguished client. A letter from Samuel Sidebotham, Sir Watkin's servant, to the agent Mr. Chambre on February 3, 1774, observes, "Mr. Heming wrote Sir Watkin a very huffing letter this day about his money. Sir W w'd be glad it was discharged as soon as you can, he has found out that Mr. Creswell is making the new Service, also I think he w'd not have wrote in the manner he did..." (quoted in Fairclough, op. cit., p. 385). Nevertheless, Creswell could not avoid going bankrupt in 1775. Sir Watkin, having spent so lavishly on his house in Wales as well as on the townhouse in London, had debts amounting to some 100,000 by 1776.
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn is perhaps one of the most significant patrons of the middle years of the eighteenth century. His single-minded quest for excellence found a perfect partner in Robert Adam and the finished interiors of 20 St. James's Square. The "Great Table Service" laid out in the "eating room" must have represented the most complete expression of Adam's neo-classicism. The newly-rediscovered tureens offered here, with their patron, designer, maker and supplier, are unparalleled as examples of documented silver.
Christie's is grateful to Oliver Fairclough, curator, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
Captions
Robert Adam, circa 1773, attributed to George Willison, oil on canvas. Reproduced courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London
"Terrine for Sir Watkin Wynn Bart., Adelphi, 9th March 1773" by Robert Adam, pen, pencil and wash. Reproduced by courtesy of the Sir John Soane Museum, London