Two Matching George II Silver Baskets, Paul de Lamerie, London, 1737 and 1740

S.J. Shrubsole, 1961

Collection of Florence Gould, Villa El Patio, Cannes, sold

Sotheby Parke Bernet, Monaco, June 16, 1984, lot 1223

His Excellency Mahdi Al-Tajir, sold

Christie's New York, 16 April 2004, Lots 126-127

London, 1989: The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, Christie's, no. 75.

The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, Christie's, London, 1989, no. 75, pp. 106-7

Each engraved on the underside, "1871 Presented to Lee Porcher Townshend Esq. in the 13th year of his Chairmanship of quarter Sessions by the MaGeorge Istrate and other Inhabitants of the County of Chester as an acknowledgement of their great esteem & deep gratitude for the faithful & valuable services rendered by him for many years."

The arms of those of Townshend. Lee Porcher Townshend (1804-1871) of Wincham Hall, Cheshire, married in 1833 Emma Joanna Gregg; they had three sons and five daughters.

Only Lamerie's wealthiest and most important patrons could afford pairs of baskets, with weights as in this case of over 200 ounces of silver. The closest comparable to this pair are those made also in 1737 for John, 4th Duke of Bedford. When one of these was displayed as part of the Treasure Houses of Britain exhibition in 1985 (no 457), Judith Banister wrote:

It is no exaggeration to say that they are the richest and finest of their type ever to have been created by Lamerie... the basket is a confection of unsurpassed craftsmanship in the ordering of the complex details of cast, chased, pierced, and engraved [elements].

Only three other pairs of high-handled Lamerie baskets are known, all later and less elaborate than the Townshend and Bedford pairs. A pair of 1739 made for Algernon Coote, 6th Earl of Mountrath, with tall sides but simpler cast borders, has been split up; a single one was in the Alan and Simone Hartman collection, see Christopher Hartop, The Huguenot Legacy, no. 39, pp. 196-203. A pair of 1744 with considerable piercing and little cast ornament is illustrated in P.A.S. Phillips, Paul de Lamerie, Citizen and Goldsmith of London: A Study of his Life and Work, London, 1968, pl. CXLVI and CXLVII. Lastly, a pair of 1747 with the arms of Sneyd of Keele Hall are in Colonial Williamsburg, see Susan Hare, Paul de Lamerie: The Work of England's Master Silversmith, London, 1990, p. 156, pl. 103.