An important George lll silver soup tureen, cover, liner and stand, Thomas Pitts, London, 1769, for John Parker and Edward Wakelin, the design attributed to William Chambers

the tureen of oval form, fluted and applied with husk swags linking applied cartouches engraved with arms and crest, under a ribbon-bound reeded rim, on four leaf and scroll feet, the fluted cover with godrons, ribbon-bound reeded rim and a fruit finial, the liner engraved with a crest, the stand with a foliage and ribbon border decorated with a central foliage boss

Charles Anderson Pelham, later 1st Baron Yarborough (1748-1823), Christie's, London, 30 November , 2006, lot 677

Parker & Wakelin Gentlemen's ledger no. 6, National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, SD.95.0050

Parker & Wakelin Workmen's ledger no. 2, National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, SD.95.0050

Associated literature

Hilary Young, 'Sir William Chambers and John Yenn: designs for silver,' Burlington Magazine, vol. 128, January 1986, pp. 31-35

Hilary Young, 'Sir William Chambers and the Duke of Marlborough's Silver,' Apollo, vol. CXXV, June 1987, pp.396-400

Hilary Young, 'The silver designs of Sir William Chambers: a resumé and recent discoveries,' The Silver Society Journal, Autumn 1995, pp. 335-341

Hilary Young, introductory essay in the 1997 Somerset House exhibition, Sir William Chambers, Architect to George III, Silver, Ormulu and Ceramics, pp. 149-162

Helen Clifford, Silver in London, the Parker and Wakelin Partnership 1760-1776, Yale, 2004, pp. 170-175

Charles Pelham commissioned in 1770 a important dinner service from the leading goldsmiths of the day John Parker and Edward Wakelin. Their Workmen's and Gentlemen's ledgers record that some of the tureens of this service were provided by Thomas Pitts: 

"1770 Charles Pelham Esqr 

Oct. 29

To 2 large 2 small fine terrines, linings and dishes 

925 [oz] 4 [dwt] 9/3 [gr]                      427 [£]  18 [s]  1 [d]

to graving 12 coats of 4 terrines, 4 comport dishes & 4 icepails 

4 [£] 8 [s]

Thomas Pitts.... Contra Creditor "

The firm of Parker & Wakelin, specializing in the production of highly fashionable silver, became the most important business of its type during the third part of the 18th century. Helen Clifford, who published an exhaustive study of this partnership ¹, paid particular attention to the works they supplied which had been designed by King George III's architect Sir William Chambers (1722-1796).

The design of this tureen has been attributed with some confidence to Sir William Chambers (1723-1796), a Scottish architect whose practice was a significant rival to that of his countryman, Robert Adam (1728-1792). Born in Gothenburg, Sweden, where his father was a merchant, the young Chambers found employment with the Swedish East India Company. During the course of several trips to China in the 1740s he became familiar with Chinese architecture, one result of which was his eventual publication in London in 1757 of Designs of Chinese buildings, furniture, dresses, machines, and utensils : to which is annexed a description of their temples, houses, gardens, &c. By that time he had studied in Paris under the architect Jacques-François Blondel (1705-1774) and with Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820), the influential architectural artist and antiquary, and had finished his education by a five-year sojourn in Italy before setting up as an architect on his own account in London in 1755.

An introduction to the royal household by the then Earl of Bute won Chambers the post of tutor of architecture to the Prince of Wales, the future George III. Chambers's reputation was further increased by the appearance of his Treatise on Civil Architecture, published in 1759 and by the number of talented men attracted to his flourishing practice. Among the most important work undertaken by the firm was the construction of the imposing Somerset House in London between the Strand and the River Thames, which began in the mid 1770s and took twenty years to complete.

On a more domestic level, Chambers was responsible for designing interiors and furniture and is credited with the successful adaptation of Chinese patterns to English taste, a style which became immensely popular in the 1750s and 1760s. Chambers's grasp of neo-classical design, albeit with a Parisian twist, was no less sure, amply demonstrated by the sophistication of his present tureen. Both Hilary Young and Helen Clifford have discussed this aspect of William Chambers's work. They furthermore point to similarities in the tureen's design with that by him in a copy by the architect John Yenn (1750-1821), a pupil in the Chambers practice.

For further comparisons, see the Thomas Pitts soup tureens, covers and stands supplied by Parker & Wakelin in 1768 to Simon, 1^st Earl Harcourt (1714-1777), shown at Sotheby's, London, in The Glory of the Garden, a loan exhibition in association with The Royal Horticultural Society, January 1984, items 190-193; and the soup tureen, cover and stand, also Thomas Pitts, London, 1770, bearing the arms of Neave of Dagham, Essex, baronets, probably for Sir Richard Diby Neave, 3^rd Bt, sold at Sotheby's, New York, 23 October 2006, lot 207.

The arms are those of Pelham impaling Aufrère for Charles Anderson Pelham, later 1^st Baron Yarborough, who married Sophia (d. 1786), only daughter and eventual heiress of George Aufrère Esq of Chelsea, whom he married in 1770. Pelham, who was born on 3 February 1749, was the only son and heir of Francis Anderson (1711-1758) of Manby, Lincolnshire. He assumed the surname and arms of Pelham upon succeeding to the estate of his great uncle, Charles Pelham (d. 1763) of Brocklesby, Lincolnshire. The early promise of his political career was confirmed upon his election as MP for Beverly in 1768, which seat he held until 1774; afterwards he was MP for Lincolnshire until 1794, the year in which he was raised to the peerage as Baron Yarborough. He died in 1823 when he was succeeded by his son, Charles Anderson-Pelham (1781-1846), who was created Earl of Yarborough in 1837.   The 1^st Baron Yarborough's ambitions for advancement were considerably assisted in his fortunate marriage to Sophia Aufrère. Her father, George Aufrère, part of a successful Huguenot family, had made his fortune as a cloth merchant in the City of London. He retired from business in 1767 whereupon he was appointed a gentleman of the privy chamber, a singular mark of favour. At that time he was living at his mansion in Chelsea, the magnificent house and gardens formerly belonging to Sir Robert Walpole, which he had purchased in 1759. Aufrère furnished the house in great style and found pleasure in adding to his already impressive collection of pictures, sculpture and other works of art. He died there at the age of eighty-six in 1801 when the residue of his estate passed to Baron Yarborough to be held in trust for his grandsons. Aufrère's collection was subsequently moved to a specially built gallery adjoining the mansion at Brocklesby Park.   The family mausoleum at Brocklesby, the design by James Wyatt based on the Temples of Vesta at Rome and Tivoli, was built between 1787 and 1794 on the orders of the 1^st Baron as a memorial to his wife, Sophia who had died at the age 33.

 

1. Helen Clifford, Silver in London, The Parker and Wakelin partnership, 1760-1776, Yale, 2004.