A George II silver basket, Paul de Lamerie, London, 1739
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 EUR
Lot Details
Description
shaped oval form, on four cast moustachioed marine mask and shell panel and volute supports flanked by festoons, the pierced sides engraved inside and out with scrolled foliage, flowers and stylised escallops below a flared lip with applied richly cast, pierced and chased border of blooms, rocaille and masks representing the four seasons, the centre with flat-chased decoration enclosing an engraved rococo cartouche centred by a coat-of-arms in a lozenge, cast vine pattern swing handle, scratch-weights ’75 : 7’ (cancelled) and ’77 = 17’, fully marked on the underside
40.5 cm, 16in. long
2395gr., 77oz
Miss Susanna Gregory (1704-1781), thence by descent to
William Gregory Williams (1742-1814),
George Gregory (1776-1860) of Harlaxton Manor, Lincolnshire,
Sir Glynn E. Welby-Gregory, 3rd Bt. (1806-1875),
Sir William E. Welby-Gregory, 4th Bt. (1829-1898),
Sir Charles G.E. Welby, 5th Bt. (1865-1938), sold as part of the Gregory heirlooms, Christie’s, London, 27 June 1900, lot 26, purchased by Davis,
the Collection of Alice Sedgwick, Lady Ludlow (1862- 1945), daughter of James Mankiewicz, widow of Sir Julius Wernher, 1st Bt. (1850-1912) and subsequently second wife of Henry Ludlow Lopes, 2nd Baron Ludlow (1865- 1922), whom she married in 1919;
Christie’s, London, The Estate of Lady Ludlow, 15th October 1946, lot 70;
with Partridge Fine Arts, London,
Brand Inglis, London, 1980,
Christie’s, New York, The Property of a Washington Collector, 30 October 1990, lot 346, unsold,
Christie’s, New York, The Estate of Robert P. Eaton, 23 October 2013, lot 107,
with Titus Kendall, London, 2017, from whom it was acquired
‘The Gregory Heirlooms’; The Times; London; Thursday, 28 June 1900; p.14e, where the basket is noted to have realised (Christie’s, 27th June 1900) 102s. per ounce, purchased by Davis
The Grantham Journal; Grantham; Lincolnshire; Wednesday, 16 October 2013: ‘Silver cake basket which once belonged to wealthy Grantham landowner goes to auction in America,'
The arms are those of Gregory of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire for Susanna Gregory (baptised St. Mary’s, Nottingham, 7 July 1704, died Nottingham, 18 January 1781), the spinster daughter of George Gregory (1669-1746), High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and M.P. for Nottingham (1701, 1702-1705 and 1715-1727) and Boroughbridge (1727-1746), third but first surviving son of George Gregory of Nottingham and Lenton and his wife, Susanna (1671-1755), daughter and heiress of John Williams (d. 1704) of Rempstone Hall, Nottinghamshire. The Williams inheritance was divided at her death by Mrs Susanna Gregory between her surviving children, George Gregory (1697-1758) and her daughter, Susanna, the owner of this basket. (Mrs. Gregory’s will, signed on 7th January 1750, proved with a codicil dated 20th December 1753, on 13th March 1755 [National Archives, PROB 11/814]).
In her will, signed 21 April 1780 and proved, with six codicils on 15 March 1781 Miss Gregory nominated her nephew William Gregory Williams (1742-1814) as her executor and heir to all her 'household goods and furniture silver plate china linen goods chattels personal estate and effects whatsoever’. (National Archives, PROB 11/1075).
‘On the 18th inst. died at Nottingham, in the 77th year of her age, Mrs. [sic] Susanna Gregory, daughter of the late George Gregory, Esq. formerly one of the Representatives in Parliament for that town.’ (The Morning Chronicle, and London Advertiser, London, Thursday, 25 January 1781).
