Case 6 2010-11 : A George I silver seal salver by Paul de Lamerie Expert Adviser’s Statement EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Brief Description of item The rectangular salver of Sir Joseph Jekyll, Chief Justice of the County Palatine of Chester 1697-1717, engraved with the 1708 Judicial Seal of Queen Anne for the Counties of Denbigh, Montgomery and Flint, made for Sir Joseph Jekyll, Chief Justice of the County Palatine of Chester Silver Paul de Lamerie, London, 1721-2 Four marks beneath base: date letter, Britannia, lion’s head erased, maker’s mark (Grimwade no.1892) Length 32.4 cm. (12¾ in.), width 23.8 cm. (9 3/8 in.), height 3.5 cm (1 3/8 in.) Weight 1,225 g. (39 oz.) 2. Context Sir Joseph Jekyll (1662-1738); Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 27 November 1984, lot 356 (£70,200); His Excellency Mohamed Mahdi Al-Tajir, United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the United Kingdon; Christie’s, London, 10 June 2010, lot 339 (£97,250); Key literature : Mark Wrey, ed., Christie’s Review of the Season 1985 (Oxford), 1985, illustrated p.318. Michael Clayton, Christie’s Pictorial History of English and American Silver (Oxford), 1985, illustrated p.103. The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection (London), 1989, p.90, illustrated p.91. Peter Boughton, ‘Museum Acquisitions: Grosvenor Museum, Chester’, The Silver Society Journal , 2002, pp.143-5 Exhibited Christie’s, London, 3-22 January 1990, The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection , no.62. 3. Waverley criteria The relief fulfils criteria one, two and three, being of outstanding importance for British regional heritage; of aesthetic importance due to the unusual form of the salver and the high quality of the engraved decoration and accompanying inscription and of importance to the study of the British tradition of converting of obsolete matrices into silver plate which dates back to medieval times. DETAILED CASE 1. Detailed description of item(s) if more than in Executive summary, and any comments. Description Britannia silver. The rectangular salver with incurved corners is raised. The sides turn up sharply in a convex quarter-round, and have a moulded rim. The four stepped double-bracket feet, echoing the incurved corners, are cast and applied. The sides are engraved with a border enclosing an oval medallion in the centre of each side and an acanthus leaf at each corner. The medallions to either side contain Classical heads – a helmeted man, presumably Mars, to the left, and a woman, possibly Minerva, to the right. The medallion above contains a trophy of arms, comprising a quiver of arrows with a pelta shield, sword and arrow, while that below contains crossed palm branches tied with a ribbon. The flat surface has an engraved border of brickwork panels interspersed with foliate interlace, with a female mask festooned with husks in the centre of each long side. The centre is engraved with both sides of the 1708 Judicial Seal of Queen Anne for the Counties of Denbigh, Montgomery and Flint, with the shield of arms of Sir Joseph Jekyll below and his crest above contained within scrolled cartouches, and the inscription SEALS OF THE COUNTY PALATINE OF CHESTER. / SIR JOSEPH JEKYLL T KN. CHIEF JUSTICE. The name ‘Paul Lamerie’ (sic) is engraved around the maker’s mark, and ‘Lamerie’ is engraved to its right. There is a double assay scrape beneath the salver. The Maker Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751) is widely recognized as England’s greatest eighteenth-century silversmith. His parents settled in the Soho area of London when he was a small child and formed part of the community of Huguenot refugee craftsmen established in London’s West End. He was apprenticed to fellow Huguenot goldsmith Pierre Platel, whose premises were in Pall Mall, close to the Court. Paul de Lamerie’s success lay in his own exceptional creativity in producing some astonishingly spectacular silver and in his ability as a businessman to sub-contract to the best available suppliers. Number of comparable items already in the UK There are thirteen documented seal salvers in the UK (please see appendix). This is the only rectangular example and one of only two marked by Paul de Lamerie. The other, made for Britain’s first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, in 1727-8, is in the V&A. Silver by Paul de Lamerie is on public display at the Ashmolean, Oxford; at the Victoria and Albert Museum where the displays include important silver by de Lamerie collected by Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert, and at National Trust properties including Belton House, Lincolnshire and Ickworth, Suffolk. Spectacular silver commissioned directly from de Lamerie by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths can still be seen at their City Livery Hall in Foster Lane. 2. Detailed explanation of the outstanding significance of the item(s). The Sir Joseph Jekyll seal salver is one of only two such commemorative items recording the office of Chief Justice of the County Palatine of Chester which was of great significance in the legal and social structure of the county town of Cheshire and of the neighbouring Welsh counties of Denbigh, Montgomery and Flint. An Act of 1543 decreed that the King’s Great Sessions in Wales should be held twice each year. It also ordered that “there shall be four judicial seals devised by the King’s majesty, whereof one shall remain with the justice of Chester, which is appointed by this Act to be justice of the shires of Flint, Denbigh, and Montgomery, to be used within the said shires to seal all judicial processes and bills that shall be sued before the said justice, in the sessions to be holded within the same shires”. The Welsh courts of Great Sessions were abolished in 1830, along with the county palatine of Chester. The seal salver was commissioned by Sir Joseph Jekyll on his resignation from the office of Chief Justice of the County Palatinate of Chester when he took up the higher office of Master of the Rolls in London in 1717. The unusual rectangular form of the salver suggests that it was commissioned for display and may have been shown in Sir Joseph Jekyll’s new office as Master of the Rolls as evidence for his high legal standing. He evidently regarded the salver as an heirloom for his descendants and it may subsequently have been displayed in the family home as such. There is considerable interest in the furnishing of Judges’ Lodgings; those open to the public include the Judges Lodging Victorian Museum in Prestigne and the Judges Lodging in Lancaster. A desk made by local cabinet-makers Gillows was acquired for display for the Lancaster Lodgings in 1992. Significance of figures associated with the item: maker/client/owners Sir Joseph Jekyll (1663-1738) son of John and Trophen Jekyll of London began his career as a lawyer in the Middle Temple in 1680 and was called to the Bar in 1687. In 1697 he was appointed Chief Justice of the County Palatine of Cheshire, which office carried jurisdiction over the counties of Denbigh, Montgomery and Flint. Despite attempts by the Tories to remove him he was reappointed in 1707, 1711 and 1714 and only resigned on his appointment as Master of the Rolls in 1717. He had been created Sergeant in 1700 and was knighted in that year. Jekyll was Member of Parliament for Eye, Suffolk (1607-1713); for Lymington, Hampshire (1713-1722) and for Reigate (1722-1738). His opposition for the Marlborough Election petition in 1734/5 and his support for the 1735 Gin Act which caused a levy of 20s per gallon on the sale of spirits gained him considerable popular opprobrium. Alexander Pope commented,’ Jekyll, or some old Whit, Who never changed his principle or his wig’ (Epilogue to the Satires , Diaologue 1,38-40). Significance of subject-matter Since the 16th century, it has been customary in England for the holder of an office of state, which entitled him to a seal, to retain the silver matrices when the seal became obsolete. This happened when the sovereign died or a change in his title necessitated an alteration in the wording. The seal matrices were then broken or defaced in order to prevent fraud, and the precious metal returned to the holder of the office. The first secular example of matrices being made into plate appears to be the three covered cups made for Sir Nicholas Bacon in 1574 from Mary I’s Great Seal of England. This practice was followed by Adam Loftus, who had two of Elizabeth I’s Great Seals of Ireland made into covered cups in 1593 and 1604. James I’s Great Seal was made into a covered cup in 1627 for Lord Coventry; Charles II’s Great Seal was made into a cup for Sir Orlando Bri dgeman before 1674; and a later Great Seal of Charles II was made into a cup c.1685. William III’s Great Seal was made into a covered cup for Sir Nathan Wright by Philip Rollos c.1702; Queen Anne’s Privy Seal was made into two cups c.1707; and two of her Great Seals were made into a pair of covered cups for Lord Cowper c.1715, applied with chased medallions depicting both sides of each seal. Beginning around 1695, salvers superseded cups, probably because their flat surface allowed for an elaborate engraved depiction of both sides of the obsolete seal. Frequently, a considerable amount of metal, over and above that obtained by melting the matrices, must also have been used for such pieces.