THE ROWLEY EPERGNE
A GEORGE III SILVER EPERGNE
THE ROWLEY EPERGNE
A GEORGE III SILVER EPERGNE
THE ROWLEY EPERGNE
A GEORGE III SILVER EPERGNE
4 More
THE ROWLEY EPERGNE
A GEORGE III SILVER EPERGNE
7 More
PROPERTY OF AN IMPORTANT NOBLE ITALIAN FAMILY (LOTS 538-564)
THE ROWLEY EPERGNEA GEORGE III SILVER EPERGNE

MARK OF SAMUEL COURTAULD, LONDON, 1762

Details
THE ROWLEY EPERGNE
A GEORGE III SILVER EPERGNE
MARK OF SAMUEL COURTAULD, LONDON, 1762
On scroll feet and with openwork foliage cast apron, suspending four baskets with overhead swing handle and with four dishes, with a further central bowl and a canopy with cast pineapple finial, engraved with an inscription to Joshua Rowley dated 1762, marked on each piece except detachable columns
28 ¼ in. (71.7 cm.) high
390 oz. (12,130 gr.)
The inscription reads 'To Joshua Rowley, Esq’r Cap’t of his Majesty’s Ship the Superb. This piece of plate is Presented by the Merchants of London for his Protection of a Fleet of Ships Bound to y'e East Indieas [sic], West Indieas [sic] & Virginia under his Convoy from a greatly Superiour [sic] force of y enemy on y Eleventh day of May 1762'.
Provenance
Presented to Captain Joshua Rowley (1734-1790), of HMS Superbe, later Admiral Sir Joshua Rowley, 1st Bt., by the grateful London Merchants, 11 May 1762 of the West India Company, and then by descent to either his second son Admiral Bartholomew Rowley (1764-1811) or his fourth and youngest son Admiral Sir Charles Rowley 1st Bt. (1770-1845), under the terms of his will.
Literature
'Ship News', The London Chronicle for 1763, 17-19 March, p. 267, column 2, 'An elegant silver epergne has been presented to Capt. Joshua Rowley by the Merchants of London'.
'Memoir of the Public Services of the Late Joshua Rowley, Bart. Vice Admiral of the Squadron', The Naval Chronicle for 1810, London, 1810, vol. 24, p. 93.
Sale Room Notice
It is possible that the vertical supports for the canopy and the pendant tassels are later replacements.

Brought to you by

Giles Forster
Giles Forster

Lot Essay

Sir Joshua Rowley 1st Bt.

Joshua Rowley was born into a naval family. His father, Admiral Sir William Rowley (c.1690-1768) was knighted for his services in the Navy and it was with his father that Joshua served, whilst still a boy, learning to speak both French and Italian. He was promoted to teh rank of lieutenant in 1747 and served in the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. He married a daughter of the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sarah Burton in 1759 but left for the West Indies the next year commanding HMS Superbe that November, the ship in which he would sail in to the West Indies in 1762. It was this journey which occasioned the presentation of the present epergne. He stayed with the ship until 1778 when he transferred to HMS Monarch and then the Suffolk. He was made rear admiral of the blue in 1779 seeing further action off Grenada and Martinique. He was appointed officer commanding the station in Jamaica until his return to England in 1783. He received a baronetcy in 1786 and a promotion to vice admiral of the white the next year. He retired to his Suffolk seat, Tendring Hall, which had been designed for him by Sir John Soane. It was there that he died in 1790.

The importance of the epergne to Sir Joshua Rowley is reflected by the care and consideration he gives the piece in his will, which was drawn up on 4 August 1786 and proved on 10 March 1790, following the Admirals's death on the 26 February, (PRO Mss. PROB 11/1190/36). He makes particular note of the presentation and his wish that it goes not to his eldest son, to his second son Bartholomew. If on his death he was childless it should to pass to Sir Joshua's fourth son Charles or his heirs, his reasoning being that they were both Navy men.

'I give the use of my large silver epergne with all the ffurniture [sic] thereto belonging which was given to me by the West India merchants and which is engraved with their arms ...to my son Bartholomew Samuel Rowley for his life and from and after his decease I give the said epergne...(so far as by law I may) unto the eldest or only son of him the said Bartholomew Samuel Rowley, lawfully to be begotten which shall be living at his decease and in default of issue male of the said Bartholomew Samuel Rowley I give the use of the said epergne...to my son Charles Rowley for his life and from and after his decease...unto the eldest or only son of the said Charles Rowley lawfully to be begotten which shall be living at his decease and in default of such issue to the personal representatives of said Charles Rowley my reason for which bequest in favour of my two sons Bartholomew Samuel Rowley and Charles Rowley is that they are both of my profession.'

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