A Victorian silver-mounted cut-glass ascos ewer, John Figg, London, 1840

John Wilmin Figg was born about 1811 at Kenton, near Harrow, Middlesex, the son of William Figg, a farmer, and his wife, Ann (née Wilmin). He was apprenticed to William Elliott, manufacturing silversmith of Compton Street, Clerkenwell, on 1 February 1826. Gaining his freedom on 5 June 1833, he entered his first mark on 31 July 1834, giving his address as 25 St. John Street, Clerkenwell. He moved about 1840 to 5 Wellington Street, Goswell Road, Clerkenwell and then in 1848 to 6 Denmark Street, Soho, where he remained until his death on 7 May 1886.

Figg was married at Holy Trinity, Islington on 7 July 1840 to Elizabeth, daughter of William Abeling 1790-1848, a Clerkenwell watchmaker, by whom he had a son and two daughters. Figg’s workshop produced a range of decorative silver, including a number of silver and silver-gilt mounted glass claret jugs. One remarkable silver claret jug of his, London, 1855, was the heavily chased presentation example made to commemorate the opening of the Panama Railroad, which appeared at Sotheby’s, New York, on 21 April 2007, lot 365.