Browse the Silver Collection

Click to hide image

Cup and cover

Silver

Origin: London

Date: 1793-1794

44.5 cm height; 3045 g weight

Marks/Maker: London, sterling standard, 1793-4, king's head, maker's mark of Robert Sharp

Heraldry: Possibly arms of Maitland with another in pretence

Lent by Mrs Douglas Barrett; LI 181.30

T. Schroder (2009), no. 77

This two-handled cup represents one of the last main phases of the form and soon after the start of the nineteenth century it practically disappeared from the repertoire, except for special uses such as race prizes. Its neoclassical design is inspired by the cup commissioned from Robert Adam in 1764 by Thomas Dundas for the Richmond race cup. The latter, with its synthesis of Renaissance and ancient sources, was highly influential in the creation of the new visual vocabulary that would replace rococo design.

Information derived from T. Schroder, British and Continental Gold and Silver in the Ashmolean (2009)

Other Images

Click to hide image