Property from the Collection of a British Nobleman
A George II silver two-handled cup and cover, John Le Sage, London, 1732
Lot Closed
January 14, 03:22 PM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from the Collection of a British Nobleman
A George II silver two-handled cup and cover, John Le Sage, London, 1732
the bell-shaped body and domed detachable cover applied with Regence strapwork, engraved one one side with a coat-of-arms and on the lid with a crest, scratch weight: '95''5'
31.5cm., 12 3/8 in. high
2929.9gr, 94oz. 2dwt.
Thomas Geoffrey Blackwell (1884-1943), Christie’s, London, 29 June 1955, lot 135
The arms are those of Conolly impaling Wentworth for the Rt. Hon. William James Conolly (d. 1754), who was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Ballyshannon in 1727. He, who succeeded to the estate of his wealthy uncle, William Conolly (1662-1729), Speaker of the Irish House of Commons from 1715 until his death, married in 1733 Lady Anne, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (1672-1739). As Lord Raby, Lady Anne’s father had been appointed ambassador to Berlin in 1705; his ambassadorial plate included a great cistern weighing over 2,500 ounces (Philip Rollos, London, 1705/06), which was sold by Sotheby’s, London, on 6 July 2010 (lot 8).
Shortly after Conolly’s marriage, he declared in a letter of 2 May 1733 to his father-in-law, Lord Strafford, that: ‘You have made me as completely happy as my wishes could have done in giving me dear Lady Anne, and though this is wrote in the hunnymoon [sic], I believe I shall be able to say as much seven years hence.’ (British Library Add. MS 22,228, f.77, quoted in A.P.W. Malcomson, The Pursuit of the Heiress, Aristocratic Marriage in Ireland, 1740-1840, Belfast, 2006, p. 113)