A Set of Four George III Silver Sauce Tureens and Covers, Digby Scott & Benjamin Smith, London, 1805

Property of the Rt. Hon. Earl Howe, P.C., C.B.E., removed from Penn House, Buckinghamshire, sold Christie's, London, 6 December 1933

His Excellency Mahdi Al-Tajir

Christie's New York, 19 April 2002, lot 367

With M.S. Rau, New Orleans

Christie's New York, 26 January 2010, lot 87

Christie's, London, The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, no. 120

The Glory of the Goldsmith: The Al-Tajir Collection of Silver and Gold, 1989, no. 120, p. 158

The arms are those of Curzon quartering Assheton, Howe and others for Richard William Penn Curzon Howe (1796-1870) in 1821 created 1st Earl Howe of the second creation, reviving the title of his maternal grandfather, the celebrated Admiral of the Fleet. In 1820 he married Lady Harriet Georgiana Brudenell (1799-1836) daughter of the 6th Earl of Cardigan. He was a Lord of the Bedchamber to George IV and Lord Chamberlain to Queen Adelaide. His descendent the 5th Earl Howe sold in 1933 an extensive dinner service by Scott & Smith and Paul Storr, 1804-1805, including these sauce tureens.

The design of these pieces is derived from French silver of the early 1790s; the upset of the Revolution drove designers such as J.J. Boileau to work in England. Larger versions of these same bas-reliefs appear on a soup tureen by Paul Storr, 1813 (Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 28 May 1968, lot 181). Similar bas-reliefs and handles also appear on a set of eight sauce tureens by Scott & Smith, 1803, in the Royal Collection (see E. Alfred Jones, Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, pl. LXXXII).