THE EXCEPTIONAL SALE 2013

London Thursday 4 July 2013 Evening Sale

THE LEQUESNE COFFEE-POT

THE LEQUESNE COFFEE-POT

T H E P R OP E R T Y OF A GE N TL EMA N

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A GEORGE II SILVER COFFEE-POT
MARK OF PAUL DE LAMERIE, LONDON, 1738 The spirally-uted pear-shaped body on three shell and acanthus foliage and ower-capped scroll feet, cast and chased above each foot with panel depicting a putto at rest within a landscape, two clasping coffee bush branches, with matting above, nely cast and chased beneath the short shell-capped spout with a mask emerging from coffee bush branches and owers and with scrolls and rosette trellis, with two birds head and scroll cartouches, one engraved with a coat-of-arms within engraved foliate scrolls and rocaille, the hinged waisted cover chased with panels of owers on a matted ground, separated by applied panelled scrolls and acathus foliage, the ammiform nial cast and chased with three shells above chased scrolls, the carved wood handle set asymmetrically to the body and with a lion-mask upper terminal and a foliage cast lower terminal, marked underneath and on cover bezel 10 in. (27.3 cm.) high gross weight 34 oz. 12 dwt. (1,075 gr.)

3,500,000-4,500,000

US$5,300,000-6,800,000 3,900,000-5,100,000

PROVENANCE:

Sir John Lequesne Kt. (1687-1741), presumably then to his widow, Mary, Lady Lequesne, later Countess of Catherlough (d. 1795), possibly left as part of her plate to her goddaughter, Miss Mary Rand of Hampton, Middlesex. John Gabbitas (1853-1940), Weston Lodge, Weston-under-Penyard, Herefordshire, Mr. J. Gabbitas; Sothebys, London, 27 June 1929, lot 171. Mrs Anna Thomson Dodge (1871-1970). The late Mrs Anna Thompson Dodge; Christies London, 23 June 1971, lot 24. A European Collector; Christies, New York, 5 October 1983, lot 207.
EXHIBITED:

London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarths England, 1984, no. G.7. Washington, The National Gallery of Art, The Treasure Houses of Britain, Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Collecting, 1985, no. 455. London, Christies, The Glory of the Goldsmith, Magnicent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, no. 77. London, Goldsmiths Hall, Paul de Lamerie At the Sign of the Golden Ball, 1990, no. 85. New York, The Metropolitan Museum, British Silver, The Wealth of a Nation, May 2012 - January 2013.
LITERATURE:

A. Grimwade, Rococo Silver 1727-1765, London, 1974, p. 51, pl. 60A. G. Norman, Silver Coffee Pot Fetches an Auction Record, The Times, 7 October 1983, p. 16. M. Snodin, ed., Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarths England, London, 1984, pp. 109. M. Clayton, Christies Review of the Season, 1984, p. 329. M. Clayton, Christies Pictorial History of English and American Silver, Oxford, 1985, p. 138, no. 721. G. Jackson-Stops, ed., The Treasure Houses of Britain, Yale, 1985, pp. 515 - 516. V. Brett, The Sothebys Directory of Silver, London, 1986, p. 177, no. 721. T. Schroder, The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles, 1988, p. 233. The Glory of the Goldsmith, Magnicent Gold and Silver from the Al Tajir Collection, 1989, pp. 108-109, no. 77. Paul de Lamerie, The Work of Englands Master Silversmith (1688-1751), London, 1990, p. 131. B. Carver Wees, English and Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clarke Art Institute, New York, 1997, p. 300.

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PAUL DE LAMERIE (1688-1751) MASTER OF THE ROCOCO. Paul de Lamerie is rightly seen as the greatest silversmith working in Britain in the 18th century; his works have been prized above all others for the last two hundred and fty years. His obituary published in the London Evening Post following his death in 1751 celebrated him for being famous in making ne ornamental plate. When the names of other silversmith were forgotten his lived on, his work inspiring the silversmiths of the rococo revival in the early 19th century and being widely coveted by leading silver collectors since the 19th century. When Christies sold the magnicent silver collection of the late Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), sixth son of King George III, in 1843 the description of a tea urn was ornamented with the note that it was in the beautiful taste of Paul LEmery. His work was the subject of a monograph by P.A.S. Phillips published in 1935 and a ground-breaking exhibition dedicated to his works took place at Goldsmiths Hall, London, in 1990. The research by Phillips, Susan Hare and the other contributors to the 1990 exhibition catalogue and subsequent work by Eleanor Alcorn of the Metropolitan Museum, New York for the Cahn Collection catalogue, Ubaldo Vitali and Maureen Cassidy-Geiger into Lameries modeller, the Maynard Master for the 2004 Richmond Museum of the Fine Arts symposium and many others has resulted in a wealth of information and analysis of the master and his work. Pieces by Lamerie form the centrepieces of many museum and leading private collections; the Lequesne Coffee-Pot was most recently exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum, British Silver: The Wealth of a Nation, May 2012 - January 2013. In common with a number of the greatest and most inventive silversmiths working in London in the 18th century Lamerie was of French Huguenot parentage. The Protestant Huguenots had been protected from persecution by the Edict of Nantes issued by King Henry IV of France in 1598. However, his grandson King Louis XIV withdrew his protection in 1685 and revoked the edict. Protestants were required to renounce their religion and if not they ed the country. This led to an exodus of some four hundred thousand French citizens, many highly educated. Military men, merchants and skilled craftsmen such and silversmiths, clockmakers and silk weavers were conspicuous in their number. Lameries father Captain Paul Souchay de la Merie (d.1731) was a Huguenot from a minor French noble family. His mother Constance Le Roux came from a family which originated from Rouen, the home the Lequesne family, although they had been settled in Amsterdam for some time. It is not known when Lameries father left France but one can assume it was some time between the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in October 1685 and February 1686 when he and his brother appear on a list of French refugee ofcers serving in army of the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Paul and Constance married in Boisle-Duc (s Hertogenbosch) in 1686 and their son Paul was baptized there in 1688. The rst record of the family in England appears in an entry in the poor rate book of St. Jamess Westminster. They may have been drawn to the capital by King William and Queen Marys declaration of 1689 for the encouraging of French Protestants to transport themselves into the kingdom. The young Paul was apprenticed to the fellow Huguenot Pierre Platel of Pall Mall in 1703, becoming free of his master in 1711. Within six years he was being described as the Kings Silversmith. This was in spite of a string of complaints registered against him at the Goldsmiths Hall for failing to submit his work for hallmarking and for submitting that of foreign silversmiths as his own. These misdemeanors did not stop him being admitted into the Livery of the Company in 1717. A more telling event occurred in 1726. The goldsmith Robert Dingley was accused of exporting 18,600 ounces of silver to the Russia Imperial Court, having failed to have it assayed and marked at the Goldsmiths Hall. Records show that Lamerie contributed almost half the total consignment. During his long career Lamerie supplied many of the powerful aristocrats of the time but the international nature of London and the wealth of its merchant class is attested by the many commissions he received from rich London based traders such as Sir John Lequesne, the original owner of this coffee-pot.

PAUL DE LAMERIE AND THE LEQUESNE COFFEE-POT A MASTERPIECE OF THE ROCOCO The asymmetrical swirling form of the Lequesne coffee-pot is a masterpiece of the English rococo. When exhibited as part of the ground breaking Treasure Houses of Britain exhibition in Washington in 1985, the coffeepot was described by Judith Banister in the catalogue entry as unparalleled in its virtuosity, revealing the great goldsmith Paul de Lamerie at his most inventive and skillful, she went on to comment that it was one of the nest and most original examples of English silversmithing.These quotes encapsulate the qualities of the piece which collectors and academics alike have admired for many years. Philippa Granville noted in M. Snodin, op. cit., p. 109 that the overall form of the coffee-pot with its pear-shaped body supported on three scrolling feet ultimately derived from the design for a coffee-pot executed for King Louis XIV of France in 1703, illustrated in C. Hernmarck, The Art of the European

Silversmith, London, 1978, pl. 340. French coffee-pots with spirally uted bodies from around this date survive, however, none show the originality of design and the exuberance of decoration displayed by the Lequesne coffee-pot where ornament has become form and form ornament. There are four coffee-pots by de Lamerie whose shape and decoration relate to the Lequesne pot. One of 1737 is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York and a similar pot of 1743, but with a stand and lamp, in is the Gilbert Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in T. Schroder, op. cit., p. 269. Two date from 1738, the year of the Lequesne coffee-pot; one is in the Folger Collection, illustrated in the 1990 Goldsmiths Hall exhibition catalogue, op. cit., no. 101, and another is the in the Sterling and Francine Clarke Institute collection (see B. Carver Wees, op. cit., p. 301). All four share the same pear shaped body and three have similar putti, nials; each have varying levels of ornament, featuring putti coffee bush foliage, shells and scrolls, however, none match the Lequesne coffee-pots sophistication and originality of design. The Lequesne coffee-pot is set apart from these four by the originality of its design and the three dimensionality of its ornament both real and illusionary. The bold modeling of the exotic putto mask and coffee bush foliage beneath the rim, the shell and ame nial and the lions mask handle terminal are balanced by the illusion of depth achieved by the masterful modeling and chasing in light relief of the three shaped panels enclosing scenes depicting putti clasping coffee bush sprays; two putti face the viewer and one with his back turned looks away (see above). The sinuous spiral curve of the pot, highlighted by the scroll sided cartouches, is further emphasised up by the unique and extraordinary asymmetrical wood handle which curves away from the lower handle junction to be seemingly swallowed by a yawning lions mask forming the upper junction. The cover appears to be clasped by three acanthus-wrapped scrolls with the tips of the foliage extending over the rim. No areas are strictly dened; ornament bursts across boundaries overlaying conventional panels of rosette trellis, scalework and matting. The impression is of the form being subsumed by the ornament.

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The Maynard Dish, mark of Paul de Lamerie, London, 1736 Christies Images

These extraordinary qualities can also be seen to varying degrees in some of Lameries nest commissions of the period, such as the Mountrath ewer and basin of 1742, the Goldsmiths Company ewer and basin of 1741 and the Ilchester ewer and basin of circa 1740. In recent years a theory has been put forward that the exceptional qualities of the design and modelling of these pieces relate to a particular craftsman in the Lamerie workshop, now known as the Maynard modeller; so called because the evidence of his existence rst appears in the cast ornament found on the Maynard sideboard dish of 1736 (see above), now in the celebrated Cahn collection of Paul de Lamerie silver, illustrated in E. Alcorn, Beyond the Makers Mark, Paul de Lamerie Silver in the Cahn Collection, Cambridge, 2006, no. 27. She observes that His compositions are sophisticated, weaving earthy, abstract imagery and naturalism around gural scenes.

His work has exquisite detail with whimsical almost comical touches, such as the sleepy lions mask which holds the handle of the Lequesne coffee-pot. Putti with dimpled limbs and high foreheads and deep scrolls are similarly leitmotifs of his work. Ubaldo Vitali in his paper Retooling for the Rococo, delivered at the Virginia Museum for the Fine Arts symposium Rococo Silver in England and its Colonies, 2004, suggests he was a chaser working with wax or wooden models from which the silver elements would have been cast using the lost wax process. A clue to the identity of this mysterious gure was uncovered by Maureen Cassidy-Geiger during research for her paper Quelque chose de beau et de bon got: a silver-gilt toilet service for the Dresden Doppelhochzeit of 1747 also delivered at the 2004 Virginia Museum symposium. Parallels were drawn to the work of the Kndler family of Dresden, although the discussion continues.

SIR JOHN LEQUESNE (1687-1741) Sir John was one of the many Huguenot refugees who established themselves in London following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He was the son of Pierre Le Quesne (1642-1700), a Protestant merchant of Rouen and his wife Catherine Fremin (b.1654). A record of Jean/Johns christening appears in the parish records of the church of St. Cande-le-Vieux in Rouen dated 29 June 1687. Pierre was wealthy and had been granted arms, as recorded in 1696, however, he died as a result of an illness following incarceration in prison due to his refusal to renounce his religion. A vivid description of his nal days was published in Philippe Legendres Histoire de la Perscution faite lEglise de Roen, Rouen, 1874, pp. 79-79. A translation reads, -but Mr Pierre le Quesne gave his life in the same way, for the salvation of his children. From having been arrested for having worked to hide the snares of Idolatry, he contracted an illness in prison from which he died. The only difference between Mr. Simon and him is this. It is that he gave up his soul to God peacefully while at home. The Intendant had extorted a large sum of money to allow him to leave the Kingdom, under the pretext of his going to fetch his children. And as he worked to execute his plan, he passed from this world, to the Father, God having wanted by this means to shorten his pains and travails. His Agony was long; it lasted ve whole days, and was of an intensity that it made it abundantly clear that this was a man, who was dying only from the fatigues and persecutions that he had suffered. The Pastor of his Parish begged him continually and intensely until his death to change his Religion. But he remained rm in the Profession of the truth, and gave glory to God until his last breath. The persecution did not end with his life. Mr. Le Cavelier, the Lieutenant for civil and criminal affairs, made a record of his belongings, so as to conscate them. It was the fourth occasion that they had been seized, and his dead body was put on trial. It was condemned to be dragged and thrown into the gutter; and the sentence would have been executed, except that a Person of repute used their authority to prevent it. This good Christian, before his last trials, which led him to eternal rest, had already paid a Fine of ve hundred pounds for having refused the ofce of Treasurer Churchwarden in the Parish where his home was situated. He had paid it happily making it well known, both for this Sacrice as for that which he had made to leave the Kingdom, that his goods were nothing to him, in comparison with his duty.
The Lequesne tea-kettle, stand, lamp and salver, mark of Paul de Lamerie, London, 1736 Christies Images

There were many members of the Church of Rouen who sacriced, as this faithful Confessor had, their goods for their freedom, who gave money to obtain Passports from the Intendants. These Gentlemen did not have great scruples about betraying the intentions of his Majesty for their own prot. Pierre had indeed sent his two sons abroad. At the time of their fathers death John and David (1691-1754) were in London in the care of a Spanish merchant Francis Beuzelin (d.1733) of Leadenhall Street. The teenage John and his younger brother David remained in London as John was apprenticed to Robert Briscoe of the Grocers Company on 1 January 1701 for the usual period of seven years. (London Metropolitan Archive, Freedom of the City Admission Papers; Ref. No. COL/CHD/FR/02/02600265). He appears to have prospered after completing his apprenticeship. He and his brother David were in business by 1721 as suggested by a court case registered in 1721 between John and David Lequesne merchants and copartners of London and a Richard Bower (Public Record Ofce Mss. C 11/1993/20). By 1724 John is listed being in business on Broad Street (London Metropolitan Archive, Land Tax Records, 1724, MS 11316/75.) where his brother was to join him and continue the business after his death in 1741. It is probable that John and David Lequesne traded with the West Indes; The Calendar of State Papers, (Ms. C.O. 388, 24, No. 150) include a document submitted by John and David in May 1724 relating to duty on the sugar and tobacco trade. With Johns increasing wealth came position in City institutions. He was appointed an alderman of the Broad Street ward of the City of London in 1735. He very much remained part of the London Huguenot community and in 1736 became a director of the French Hospital, The Hospital of La Providence in Fisbury, which provided assistance to poor French Protestants residing in Great Britain. He held the post until his death in 1741. It was also in the year 1736 that John became Master of the Grocers Company. As alderman of the City of London John formed part of the Lord Mayors delegation to the Court on January 18 1737 to congratulate King George II on his arrival in London from Hanover four days earlier, the King having endured a very stormy crossing. John, together with fellow alderman George Champion and two sheriffs, was knighted by the King. At the relatively late age of fty Sir John married. His bride was described in The Gentlemans Magazine for 1738 as Miss Knight of Hants.; she brought him a prodigious dowry of 20,000 with the marriage being conducted by the Bishop of Norwich at the Church of St. Peter Le Poer on Broad Street. It has been suggested the coffee pot was a wedding present or commissioned to mark the marriage. The Dictionary of National Biography entry for Miss Knights second husband (see below) suggests she was possibly the daughter of her second husbands cousin Raleigh Knight of Barrells, Warwickshire. Their only child Mary was born the next year and she was christened at St. Peters. She died at the age of only 21 leaving all her possessions in trust for her mother. In June 1738 Sir John was appointed a Director of the Bank of England and the next year he served as Sheriff of the City of London. Sir John died in 1741 and was buried in St. Peter le Poer, the church in which he was married and his daughter baptized. There remains no record of his will, however his estate was administered by his widow, who later became Lady Luxborough and then Countess of Catherlough having married Robert Knight (1702-1772), 1st Baron Luxborough and 1st Earl Catherlough as his second wife in 1756. At the time of their marriage she was living on Bruton Street, Mayfair. The marriage was childless and probably an unhappy one; Catherlough took the daughter of one of his tenants as a mistress in the 1760s fathering at least four children by her. After his death in 1772 Lady Catherlough lived in Hampton, Middlesex dying there in 1795. The history of the coffee pot after the death of Sir John in 1741 and it reappearance at auction in 1929 remains a mystery. It is probable that it was left together with the kettle, stand, lamp and salver, also by de Lamerie, which is now in the Gilbert Collection, the Victoria and Albert Museum, to his widow (see opposite). Presumably she was able to retain the Lequsene silver following her husbands death in 1772. Her will of 1795 (Public Record Ofce, Mss. PROB 11/1268/120) contains numerous monetary bequests to friends and godchildren conrming she was still a woman of considerable wealth at the time of her death. There is no specic mention of silver beyond I give and bequeath all my household goods ffurniture [sic] plate linen and china unto the said Miss Rand and all the rest of my personal estate. Earlier in the will Miss Rand is described as Miss Mary Rand of Hampton. Christies is grateful to Leslie Du Cane for genealogical information on the Lequesne family.

COFFEE A NEW FASHION The rst London coffee house was opened by a former servant of the English Levant Company, which traded with Constantinople, in 1652. Pasqua Rose had served in Smyrna (now Izmir) and had acquired a taste for the dark stimulant drink. The fashion took hold and by the early years of the 18th century there was an estimated 3,000 coffee houses in London. The drinks many virtues, both real and imagined, were extolled by printed handbills; they also warned of a sleepless night if consumed too late. Each coffee house had its own particular clientele, some were literary, some political, others concerned with shipping and others nance. From the coffee house came the Gentlemans Clubs and City institutions such as the insurance market Lloyds of London. These unofcial meeting places were disapproved of by the establishment; King Charles II tried to censure them in 1675, to no avail. Equally disapproving were women, a group of whom published The Womens Petition Against Coffee in 1674. By the early 18th century the practice had acquired polite acceptance and coffee was being consumed at home from silver and porcelain pots. It was usually served black and from long spouted vessels. There was also the fashion for taking it in the Turkish manner, with large quantities of sugar syrup used in the preparation. Contemporary accounts in the business ledgers of the silversmith George Wickes survive for Turky Coffee Pots with short spouts, cited by B. Carver Wees, op. cit., p. 300., and as used by Lamerie for the Lequesne coffee pot.; the short spout meant viscous liquid owed freely. The use of the Lequesne pot is left in not doubt by the putti which perch above the scroll feet each clasping a branch from the coffee bush.