A RARE ENGLISH SILVER 'LORD MAYOR'S DISH,' PRESENTED TO SIR GEORGE THOROLD BY THE CONGREGATION OF BEVIS MARKS

embossed with Abraham by his tent above inscription, The Arms of the tribe of Judah..., surrounded by chased flowers, with four lobate scroll handles, on four ball feet.

Sir George Thorold, to his widow
Elizabeth Rushout Thorold, to her brother
Sir John Rushout, 4^th Bart. (1685-1775), of Northwick, by descent to
Elizabeth, widow of the 3^rd Lord Northwick, and in 1912 to her grandson by her first marriage
Captain Edward George Spencer-Churchill (1876-1964), sold
Christie’s London, May 26, 1965, lot 135

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1956, Anglo-Jewish Art and History Exhibition, no. 102e
New York, Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, The Collector's Room: Selections from the Michael and Judy Steinhardt Collection, 1993, no. 88, illus.

Cecil Roth, “The Lord Mayor’s Salvers” in Connoissuer, May 1935, p. 298 (as 1716)
Arthur Grimwade, “The Ritual Silver” in Treasures of a London Temple, London, 1951, p. 20 (as 1716)
Arthur Grimwade, “Anglo-Jewish Silver” in Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. XVIII (Sessions 1953-55), London, 1958, p. 124 (as 1716)

Condition good, crisp. Important and rare piece
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

bevis marks

The Spanish and Portuguese community that would become Bevis Marks grew out of the return of Jews to England under Oliver Cromwell, beginning in 1655.  A synagogue opened in 1657, and Samuel Pepys witnessed celebrations for Simchat Torah there in 1663.  The opening of the new synagogue at Bevis Marks in 1701 and the naming of the esteemed scholar David Nieto as Haham in 1702 set the direction of the congregation for the new century.

While they were tolerated, opposition to Jews was also present, from Cromwell’s meetings through to the 19th century;  despite the Royal signature, the Jewish naturalization act of 1753 was repealed the following year because of public outcry.  Other, more commercial resistance came from merchants in the City of London.  Given this, community wisely cultivated the powerful of the era.

gifts to the lord mayor
For a century, from 1679 to 1779, the congregation of Bevis Marks presented a gift each year to the incoming Lord Mayor of London.  At the time of the first gift, the atmosphere engendered by Monmouth’s rebellion and the Popish plot may have encouraged another minority religious community to stress its allegiance to official power.  The gift was a purse of £50, or a piece of presentation silver accompanied by sweetmeats.  A similar douceur was offered by the French and Dutch Protestant Churches.[i]  We do not know how many mayors opted for the cash rather than the silver object, but from the first fifty years of the tradition, only seven silver salvers are known to have survived to the present day.

Records at Bevis marks show that the first salver of 1679/80 cost £30 3s. 10d,[ii]and this seems to have established the model to be used for the next five decades.  Stylistically, they all belong to the late Charles II period, with deeply embossed foliage, long after this taste had gone out of style.  The center is embossed with the seal of Bevis Marks, Abraham before the Tent of Meeting; the style, particularly the dress of the soldier, changes over time to accord with contemporary fashion.

The five earliest surviving dishes are by John Ruslen, who also made scroll mounts for Bevis Marks and a Hanukah lamp.[iii]  Ruslen became a master in 1664, so the Charles II style would have been natural to him.  Records show that the gift of 1702 cost the Bevis Marks community a total of £33 16s. 6d., including £1 10s. 6 d. “for gift to the official of My Lord [Mayor]” and £5 for the sweetmeats.[iv]

1697 – St. Michael’s Church, Bristol
1699 – Collection Lord Jersey, descendant of Lord Mayor Sir Francis Child
1702 – Ex Swaythling collection, now Jewish Museum London
1708 – Ex Wortley collection, now Jewish Museum New York
1710 – Collection Lord Ancaster, descendant of Lord Mayor Sir Gilbert Heathcote

Ruslen seems to have ceased working about 1715, and the next two surviving dishes – including the offered piece - are by Robert Hill.  Apprenticed in 1689, made a freeman of the company in 1707, he was two generations younger than Ruslen.  He entered his first mark in 1717, with the address of St. Swithin’s Lane.  This was also the address of John Ruslen, raising the possibility that Hill was Ruslen’s successor.[v]  Not much silver by Hill is known, but the fact that he also made a pair of communion cups and a paten for the French Huguenot congregation at Hoxton suggests ties with the outsider communities of his day.[vi]

1719 – Ex Spencer Churchill collection, the offered lot
1728 – Presented by Bevis Marks in 1942 to Sir Samuel Joseph, Jewish Lord Mayor of London during World War II

By 1731 the out-of-date embossed Charles II form had been changed to a rectangular salver in plain contemporary taste, with the Bevis Marks coat of arms engraved in the center, and the community had also changed silversmiths.[vii]  The updating of the gift may have occurred after the death in 1728 of the 74-year old Chief Rabbi, David Neito.

sir george thorold

The recipient of the 1719 dish was the new Lord Mayor, Sir George Thorold, 1st Baronet (c. 1666-1722) of Harmston, Lincolnshire.  A leading London merchant, he was the son of a successful ironmonger.  His older brother Charles was Alderman, then Sheriff of London, and George followed in his footsteps, becoming Alderman in 1709 and Sheriff 1710-11.  Created baronet in 1709, he was elected Lord Mayor a decade later.  Alexander Pope recalled his Lord Mayor’s Procession:

‘Twas on the day when Thorold, rich and grave
Like Caesar, triumphed on both land and wave

He had married in 1713 Elizabeth Rushout, daughter of Sir James Rushout, 1st Bart.  He died without surviving issue at his house in Bloomsburg Square, London, age 56, and was buried at Harmston, which he had inherited from his elder brother.  His widow married in 1726 George Compton, 4th Earl of Northampton.  Her stepdaughter, Lady Anne Compton, married in 1729 Elizabeth’s youngest brother, Sir John Rushout, and the couple inherited the Thorold plate.  It remained at Northwick Hall (inherited in 1912 by Captain E.G. Spencer-Churchill) until 1965.

[i] Grimwade 1951 p. 15
[ii] Roth, p. 297
[iii] Grimwade 1951, pp. 19-20
[iv] Treasures of Jewish Heritage: The Jewish Museum, London, p. 88
[v] Arthur Grimwade, London Goldsmiths, 1697-1837: Their Marks and Lives, London, 1990, p. 546
[vi] Tessa Murdoch and Randolph Vigne, The French Hospital in England: Its Huguenot History and Collections, Cambridge, 2009, fig. 8, p. 16, and fig. 37, p. 38
[vii] Roth, p. 297, no. IV