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Lot Essay
Philip Rollos and the Crown
Goldsmith Philip Rollos was one of the most successful and celebrated Huguenot goldsmiths in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Although little is known about his early life and career, Rollos appears in the denization list of 1691 and obtained his freedom from the Goldsmith’s Company in 1697. He served as Subordinate Goldsmith for King William III and Queen Anne and was patronized by the Crown through the early years of the reign of George I.
Made for Queen Anne in 1710 this casket was part of the Royal Collection until it was sold upon the 1827 death of the Duke of York. Listed in the Christie’s catalogue of 19 March 1827 under the heading ANCIENT SILVER GILT PLATE the catalogue specifically notes ‘N.B. This was formerly the property of Her Majesty, Queen Anne.’ Unlike a great portion of silver engraved with the Royal coat-of-arms, which was widely distributed for the use of diplomats positioned abroad or gifted to members of the court and foreign dignitaries, the present lot is documented to have been the personal property of Queen Anne, and thence descended through the Royal family for over a century.
Similar to this sugar casket, the great portion of works marked for or attributed to Rollos and engraved with the coat-of-arms and/or monogram of Queen Anne exist in silver-gilt. Examples include a pair of silver-gilt cups and covers, 1710, lent by Sir Philip Sassoon Bt. to the Park Lane exhibition in 1929, and a 1710 hot water jug likely given by Queen Anne to Lionel, 1st Duke of Dorset (1688-1765) and his wife Elizabeth (1687-1768), first lady of the Bedchamber, on the occasion of their marriage in 1710, sold Christie’s, London, 14 June 2005, lot 89. A set of three casters, circa 1705, attributed to Rollos and engraved with cypher of Queen Anne from the Raby Ambassadorial Service, was sold Christie’s, London, 12 June 2002, lot 106 (£149,650). Additionally, a pair of related 1705 salvers from the Raby Service, later forming part of part of the Al Tajir Collection, were sold in these rooms on 11 April 2003, lot 334 ($186,700).
The Belton House Plate Collection
By 1929, the casket is recorded in the collection of Peregrine Francis Adelbert Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow (1899-1978), at Belton House in Lincolnshire. Belton House was built by Sir John Brownlow of Humby (1659-1697) in 1685, and was subsequently occupied by his descendants. The present casket was likely acquired in the 19th century by Lord Brownlow’s ancestors as the Brownlow and Cust families were known to be voracious collectors of silver by renowned makers and with Royal provenance. A 1721 inventory of Belton House lists 8,900 ounces of silver and silver-gilt, valued at £2,422. This extraordinary collection was later expanded upon by Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow (1744-1807), who notably acquired 4,000 ounces of plate upon his appointment as Speaker of the House of Commons in 1761. The plate collection at Belton was always admired, as shown by a newspaper report of a ball at Belton in 1833, ‘The decorations of the table were exceedingly beautiful and the display of costly plate superb’, A Tinniswood, Belton House, London, 1992, p. 43.
The present lot was sold by Lord Brownlow at Christie’s in 1963 as part of an exceptional group of English silver. In addition to the casket, Brownlow’s offering included works by the leading silversmiths of the early eighteenth century including Paul De Lamerie and David Willaume, and such remarkable objects as the celebrated Belton Wine Cistern by Thomas Heming and the Brownlow Tankards attributed to John Duck, London, 1686.
Dr. Constable: New England Collector
Dr. John Constable (1927-2016) was born in London to William G. Constable and his wife Olivia Carson-Roberts. The family relocated to Boston when Constable was a child as his father, a well-known art historian and director of the Courtauld Institute of Art at Cambridge University had accepted the position of curator of paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Constable attended Browne and Nichols School and graduated from Harvard College in 1947 where he received his A.B., magna cum laude. He proceeded to medical school and graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1952, again receiving his degree magna cum laude. Dr. Constable served as chief of plastic surgery at the Shriners Burn Institute, assistant clinical professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the Plastic Surgical Research Council. Through his work as a plastic surgeon, specializing in burns, Dr Constable travelled the world and was responsible for the training of many physicians in Southeast Asia. Dr Constable was an early member of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. He also received the Order of Friendship from the Government of Vietnam.
Described by those that knew him as a Renaissance Man, Dr. Constable’s interests ranged from art history, to natural history to Sherlock Holmes. He is noted to have had an unplaceable accent likely influenced by his childhood in London, a gracious manner and “the kind of charm that seemed out of England’s Edwardian era.”
In 1957 Dr. Constable married Sylvia Paine, the daughter of Richard Paine Sr. (1893-1966), who had been a great collector of fine English and Irish silver, including the exceptional James II Irish chinoiserie part dressing-table service, John Segar, Dublin, 1685, to be offered in this sale, lot 4. In the 19th and 20th centuries the Paine family had been supporters of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through bequest and loan. With his well-trained eye, Dr. Constable was able to expand upon the superb silver collection started by his father-in-law through the acquisition of plate complimentary in quality and refined taste. Part of the Paine/Constable family collection of silver will be offered Christie’s, New York, 10 April 2018 lots 215-231.
Nouveau Livre d’Orfèvrerie
Described in the 1827 Christie’s catalogue as ‘A beautiful oval sugar bason (sic) and cover, with gadrooned edges; the bowl of the vessel enriched with scroll work, in relief; weight, 35 oz. 5 dwts.”, the present casket bears stylistic similarities to designs published in 1701-3 by Daniel Marot, architect and designer to King William III, in his Nouveau Livre d’Orfèvrerie, which served as an important source of inspiration for silversmiths in the first decades of the 18th century. The inverted shell flanked by acanthus-capped strapwork motif repeating in the applied band of the present casket is analogous to Marot’s design for the engraved border decoration of a snuff-box (see T. Strange, An Historical Guide to French Interiors, Furniture, Decoration, Woodwork & Allied Arts London, 1950, p. 138).
Goldsmith Philip Rollos was one of the most successful and celebrated Huguenot goldsmiths in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Although little is known about his early life and career, Rollos appears in the denization list of 1691 and obtained his freedom from the Goldsmith’s Company in 1697. He served as Subordinate Goldsmith for King William III and Queen Anne and was patronized by the Crown through the early years of the reign of George I.
Made for Queen Anne in 1710 this casket was part of the Royal Collection until it was sold upon the 1827 death of the Duke of York. Listed in the Christie’s catalogue of 19 March 1827 under the heading ANCIENT SILVER GILT PLATE the catalogue specifically notes ‘N.B. This was formerly the property of Her Majesty, Queen Anne.’ Unlike a great portion of silver engraved with the Royal coat-of-arms, which was widely distributed for the use of diplomats positioned abroad or gifted to members of the court and foreign dignitaries, the present lot is documented to have been the personal property of Queen Anne, and thence descended through the Royal family for over a century.
Similar to this sugar casket, the great portion of works marked for or attributed to Rollos and engraved with the coat-of-arms and/or monogram of Queen Anne exist in silver-gilt. Examples include a pair of silver-gilt cups and covers, 1710, lent by Sir Philip Sassoon Bt. to the Park Lane exhibition in 1929, and a 1710 hot water jug likely given by Queen Anne to Lionel, 1st Duke of Dorset (1688-1765) and his wife Elizabeth (1687-1768), first lady of the Bedchamber, on the occasion of their marriage in 1710, sold Christie’s, London, 14 June 2005, lot 89. A set of three casters, circa 1705, attributed to Rollos and engraved with cypher of Queen Anne from the Raby Ambassadorial Service, was sold Christie’s, London, 12 June 2002, lot 106 (£149,650). Additionally, a pair of related 1705 salvers from the Raby Service, later forming part of part of the Al Tajir Collection, were sold in these rooms on 11 April 2003, lot 334 ($186,700).
The Belton House Plate Collection
By 1929, the casket is recorded in the collection of Peregrine Francis Adelbert Cust, 6th Baron Brownlow (1899-1978), at Belton House in Lincolnshire. Belton House was built by Sir John Brownlow of Humby (1659-1697) in 1685, and was subsequently occupied by his descendants. The present casket was likely acquired in the 19th century by Lord Brownlow’s ancestors as the Brownlow and Cust families were known to be voracious collectors of silver by renowned makers and with Royal provenance. A 1721 inventory of Belton House lists 8,900 ounces of silver and silver-gilt, valued at £2,422. This extraordinary collection was later expanded upon by Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow (1744-1807), who notably acquired 4,000 ounces of plate upon his appointment as Speaker of the House of Commons in 1761. The plate collection at Belton was always admired, as shown by a newspaper report of a ball at Belton in 1833, ‘The decorations of the table were exceedingly beautiful and the display of costly plate superb’, A Tinniswood, Belton House, London, 1992, p. 43.
The present lot was sold by Lord Brownlow at Christie’s in 1963 as part of an exceptional group of English silver. In addition to the casket, Brownlow’s offering included works by the leading silversmiths of the early eighteenth century including Paul De Lamerie and David Willaume, and such remarkable objects as the celebrated Belton Wine Cistern by Thomas Heming and the Brownlow Tankards attributed to John Duck, London, 1686.
Dr. Constable: New England Collector
Dr. John Constable (1927-2016) was born in London to William G. Constable and his wife Olivia Carson-Roberts. The family relocated to Boston when Constable was a child as his father, a well-known art historian and director of the Courtauld Institute of Art at Cambridge University had accepted the position of curator of paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Constable attended Browne and Nichols School and graduated from Harvard College in 1947 where he received his A.B., magna cum laude. He proceeded to medical school and graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1952, again receiving his degree magna cum laude. Dr. Constable served as chief of plastic surgery at the Shriners Burn Institute, assistant clinical professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the Plastic Surgical Research Council. Through his work as a plastic surgeon, specializing in burns, Dr Constable travelled the world and was responsible for the training of many physicians in Southeast Asia. Dr Constable was an early member of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. He also received the Order of Friendship from the Government of Vietnam.
Described by those that knew him as a Renaissance Man, Dr. Constable’s interests ranged from art history, to natural history to Sherlock Holmes. He is noted to have had an unplaceable accent likely influenced by his childhood in London, a gracious manner and “the kind of charm that seemed out of England’s Edwardian era.”
In 1957 Dr. Constable married Sylvia Paine, the daughter of Richard Paine Sr. (1893-1966), who had been a great collector of fine English and Irish silver, including the exceptional James II Irish chinoiserie part dressing-table service, John Segar, Dublin, 1685, to be offered in this sale, lot 4. In the 19th and 20th centuries the Paine family had been supporters of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through bequest and loan. With his well-trained eye, Dr. Constable was able to expand upon the superb silver collection started by his father-in-law through the acquisition of plate complimentary in quality and refined taste. Part of the Paine/Constable family collection of silver will be offered Christie’s, New York, 10 April 2018 lots 215-231.
Nouveau Livre d’Orfèvrerie
Described in the 1827 Christie’s catalogue as ‘A beautiful oval sugar bason (sic) and cover, with gadrooned edges; the bowl of the vessel enriched with scroll work, in relief; weight, 35 oz. 5 dwts.”, the present casket bears stylistic similarities to designs published in 1701-3 by Daniel Marot, architect and designer to King William III, in his Nouveau Livre d’Orfèvrerie, which served as an important source of inspiration for silversmiths in the first decades of the 18th century. The inverted shell flanked by acanthus-capped strapwork motif repeating in the applied band of the present casket is analogous to Marot’s design for the engraved border decoration of a snuff-box (see T. Strange, An Historical Guide to French Interiors, Furniture, Decoration, Woodwork & Allied Arts London, 1950, p. 138).