A George II Silver Snuffers Tray From Ham House, David Willaume II, London, 1728

Sir Lionel Tollemache (1708-70), 5th Baronet and 4th Earl of Dysart, of Ham House, Richmond

by descent in the Tollemache family, Ham House, removed from Ham House prior to being taken over by the National Trust, sold at

J. Trevor & Sons, London, 12 May 1955, lot 43

The crest is that of David Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart 1708-1770 who inherited Ham and the Tollemache estates on the death of his grandfather, the 3rd Earl in 1727. On his return from the grand tour in 1728 he began extensive refurbishments at Ham and Helmington Hall in Suffolk. Ham House was built in 1610 by Thomas Vasasour, Knight Marshall to James I. His daughter married, as her second husband, John Maitland Duke of Randall in 1672, when the home was doubled in size and finished lavishly. Ham House, taken over by the National Trust in 1947, was the film location for movies such as Anna Karenina 2012, the BBC's Sense and Sensibility 2008 and others.

The 4th Earl appears to have patronised the leading Huguenot goldsmiths of the period in a similar manner to the 2nd Earl of Warrington. Philippa Glanville has studied the 4th Earl's bills for plate and found that he appears to have acquired splendid household and dining silver through regular orders begun in the late 1720s and into the 1740s.¹ The 4th Earl was well educated through his Grand Tour and showed himself to be at the forefront of fashion when he purchased the pair of figural candelabra by pre-eminent Royal Parisan goldsmith, Thomas Germain, Paris, 1732-4 now in the Firestone Collection, Detroit Insitute of Arts.² He had anticipated the importance of this rococo design ahead of his English contemporaries - the model was subsequently adopted with slight variations by Charles Kandler, 1738, by John Hugh le Sage in 1744 for George II and George Wickes for the Earl of Kildare in the same year.³ The Germain candelabra were sold in the same sale as this snuffers tray, at J Trevor and Sons, London, 12 May 1955, lot 81. Much of the 4th Earl's English silver was sold at Christie's, London, 13 May 1953 and included pieces by the master goldsmiths such as James Schruder, David Willaume, Augustine Courtauld and Anne Tanqueray, as well as others by Paul Crespin.

David Willaume II, son and apprentice of David Willaume I, entered his mark in 1728 on or about the date of his father's retirement. He became Subordinate Royal Goldsmith to the King in 1744 and 1746, and High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1737.

Notes

1. Philippa Glanville, Silver in England, 1987, p.76-77

2. Christianne Perrin, François Thomas Germain, Orfèvre des Rois, 1993, p.30-1

3. Elaine Barr, 'The French Heritage', p.90-7, Royal French Silver: The Property of George Ortiz, Sotheby's, New York, 13th November 1996, see also lot 6, p.82-4; the John Hugh Le Sage candelabra are now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, see Christopher Hartop, The Huguenot Legacy English Silver 1680-1760..., 1996, p.126-31; the Charles Kandler candelabra are now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, acquired 2001