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Lot Essay
Thomas Dawson, 1st Viscount Cremorne (1725-1813)
Thomas Dawson was the first surviving son of Richard Dawson (d.1766) of Dawson Grove and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam. The family are thought to have originated in Yorkshire and settled in Ireland during the late Tudor period. The founder of the Dawson Grove branch is believed to be the Cromwellian cornet-of-horse Richard Dawson who was acquiring lands in co. Monaghan in the 1650s and 1660s (Introduction to the Dartry Papers, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2007, p. 4). Much of the 18th century wealth of the family was amassed by the father of Viscount Cremorne, the banker Alderman Dawson (d.1766). Although the bank was reported to have failed in 1765, with debtors taking a lien on the Dawson estates, this does not seem to have damaged the family’s wealth. Alderman Dawson’s son, Thomas, 1st Viscount Dawson was able to pursue a long political career, acquire a number of titles and commission houses in Ireland and London. He was a patron of the architect James Wyatt and the artists Thomas Lawrence and Johann Zoffany amongst others.
During his long political career Dawson represented co. Monaghan in the Irish House of Commons for almost twenty years. He was raised to the Irish House of Lords as Baron Dartrey of Dawson’s Grove in 1770 and further elevated as Viscount Cremorne in 1785. Lord Cremorne was one of the largest landowners in Ireland, with an annual income from his estates of £8,000 in 1799. His first wife, whom he married in 1754, was Anne (d.1769), the youngest daughter of Thomas Fermor, 1st Earl of Pomfret. Her untimely death must have greatly affected Thomas Dawson for he commissioned King George III’s architect James Wyatt (1746-1813) to raise a magnificent mausoleum in her memory. Recently restored it was modelled on the Pantheon in Rome and enclosed a sculpture by Joseph Wilton (1722-1803). In addition he rebuilt the family seat and greatly improved the park and estate. The Rev. J. Burrows in his Diary of a Journey through England and Wales to Ireland, written in 1773 (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Mss. T.3552) observed ‘A scene more formed for high contemplation and rapturous enthusiasm cannot be imagined…a thousand acres of lake, three hundred of which flows within yards of the house, with hills on each side covered from top to bottom with the most beautiful delicious woods, brings all fairy land to ones [sic.] imagination.’
Lord Cremorne also improved and enlarged his Chelsea villa, Cremorne House employing the offices of James Wyatt. He had acquired Chelsea Farm, as it was originally called, in 1778. The existing house stood in nine acres with a wide Thames frontage on the site now occupied by the Lots Road Power Station. The enlarged house had gardens designed by landscape gardener and surveyor Nathaniel Richmond (1723-1784). It was here and at his Mayfair house that he was visited by King George III (r.1760-1820), Queen Charlotte and the Prince of Wales on numerous occasions. Lord Cremorne’s second wife, Philadelphia (1740-1826), daughter of Thomas Freame and grand-daughter of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen and a much loved and admired hostess. It is probable that the present candelabra were commissioned for use in their Mayfair house on Stanhope Street and at Cremorne House in Chelsea. Lord Uxbridge, who was to commission a set of four matching candelabra in 1792, possibly saw and admired the Cremorne candelabra at a dinner or soirée as a guest of the Cremornes. This could explain the entry for Lord Uxbridge’s candelabra in the silversmiths’ ledgers which describe them as being ‘like Cremornes’ (see below).
The Candelabra
The pair of Cremorne candelabra is marked with the date letters for 1790-1 and 1791-2. The period of use for the date letter commenced usually in May and extended into May of the next year. Therefore pieces which were delivered in the same calendar year could be struck with consecutive date letters, as is the case here. The date letter for 1790 commenced on 29 May 1790 and remained in use until 30 May 1791. The candlesticks, which form the bases for the candelabra, were delivered to Lord Cremorne on 21 May 1791, nine days before the change of date letter. The more complex and costly branches are struck with the date letter for 1791-2, and were delivered seven months later on 21 December 1791.
As noted above candelabra of the same form were commissioned soon after by another of Wakelin and Taylor’s aristocratic clients, Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge (1744-1812). First offered for sale in 1976 both pairs have recently been sold, one pair in the Exceptional Sale, Christie’s, London, 4 July 2013, lot 1 and the other pair in the sale of the collection of Giorgio Marsan and Umberta Nasi, Christie's, London, 12 December 2007, lot 38. These pairs are the only 18th century examples to have appeared on the market. All are designed in the George III 'Roman fashion' employing classical architectural motifs to symbolise antique Roman virtues and deities. The spirally fluted baluster-vase candlesticks recall antique Roman altar forms, the fluting reminiscent of that found on strigil-fluted Roman sarcophagi. The central flame finials evoke love's eternal flame mounted on an altar pedestal. The ribbon-bound borders of the nozzles, formed from bundles of reeds, recall the Arcadian satyr Pan.
The Garrard Ledgers
A remarkable and fascinating record of silver produced in the 18th century is preserved in the Gentlemen's Ledgers of the goldsmith George Wickes and his successors in the business, Edward Wakelin, his son John Wakelin, William Taylor, John Parker and Robert Garrard. In these ledgers we are able to discover the contemporary description of silver commissioned by many of the great families of Britain and Ireland, along with full details, weights and costs, not because the invoice remains in the archives of the families, but because of a chance meeting between the silver scholar Norman Penzer, and Garrards' company secretary, on the afternoon of a sale held by the company in 1952.
Penzer had bought a number of Royal Plate inventories in the sale. He was asked by the company secretary whether he would be interested in seeing a number of their old ledgers. The old ledgers proved to be a unique run of company accounts dating from the time of their founder, the goldsmith George Wickes in 1735, through to the late 19th century. Penzer, Arthur Grimwade, Christie's Director of Silver, and John Hayward of the Victoria and Albert Museum, worked throughout the afternoon, sorting and stacking the books, which were then delivered to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Now available on microfiche, the ledgers are an unrivalled source of information, regarding the use, description and cost of all manner of silver and silver-gilt objects.
Thomas Dawson was the first surviving son of Richard Dawson (d.1766) of Dawson Grove and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam. The family are thought to have originated in Yorkshire and settled in Ireland during the late Tudor period. The founder of the Dawson Grove branch is believed to be the Cromwellian cornet-of-horse Richard Dawson who was acquiring lands in co. Monaghan in the 1650s and 1660s (Introduction to the Dartry Papers, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2007, p. 4). Much of the 18th century wealth of the family was amassed by the father of Viscount Cremorne, the banker Alderman Dawson (d.1766). Although the bank was reported to have failed in 1765, with debtors taking a lien on the Dawson estates, this does not seem to have damaged the family’s wealth. Alderman Dawson’s son, Thomas, 1st Viscount Dawson was able to pursue a long political career, acquire a number of titles and commission houses in Ireland and London. He was a patron of the architect James Wyatt and the artists Thomas Lawrence and Johann Zoffany amongst others.
During his long political career Dawson represented co. Monaghan in the Irish House of Commons for almost twenty years. He was raised to the Irish House of Lords as Baron Dartrey of Dawson’s Grove in 1770 and further elevated as Viscount Cremorne in 1785. Lord Cremorne was one of the largest landowners in Ireland, with an annual income from his estates of £8,000 in 1799. His first wife, whom he married in 1754, was Anne (d.1769), the youngest daughter of Thomas Fermor, 1st Earl of Pomfret. Her untimely death must have greatly affected Thomas Dawson for he commissioned King George III’s architect James Wyatt (1746-1813) to raise a magnificent mausoleum in her memory. Recently restored it was modelled on the Pantheon in Rome and enclosed a sculpture by Joseph Wilton (1722-1803). In addition he rebuilt the family seat and greatly improved the park and estate. The Rev. J. Burrows in his Diary of a Journey through England and Wales to Ireland, written in 1773 (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland Mss. T.3552) observed ‘A scene more formed for high contemplation and rapturous enthusiasm cannot be imagined…a thousand acres of lake, three hundred of which flows within yards of the house, with hills on each side covered from top to bottom with the most beautiful delicious woods, brings all fairy land to ones [sic.] imagination.’
Lord Cremorne also improved and enlarged his Chelsea villa, Cremorne House employing the offices of James Wyatt. He had acquired Chelsea Farm, as it was originally called, in 1778. The existing house stood in nine acres with a wide Thames frontage on the site now occupied by the Lots Road Power Station. The enlarged house had gardens designed by landscape gardener and surveyor Nathaniel Richmond (1723-1784). It was here and at his Mayfair house that he was visited by King George III (r.1760-1820), Queen Charlotte and the Prince of Wales on numerous occasions. Lord Cremorne’s second wife, Philadelphia (1740-1826), daughter of Thomas Freame and grand-daughter of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen and a much loved and admired hostess. It is probable that the present candelabra were commissioned for use in their Mayfair house on Stanhope Street and at Cremorne House in Chelsea. Lord Uxbridge, who was to commission a set of four matching candelabra in 1792, possibly saw and admired the Cremorne candelabra at a dinner or soirée as a guest of the Cremornes. This could explain the entry for Lord Uxbridge’s candelabra in the silversmiths’ ledgers which describe them as being ‘like Cremornes’ (see below).
The Candelabra
The pair of Cremorne candelabra is marked with the date letters for 1790-1 and 1791-2. The period of use for the date letter commenced usually in May and extended into May of the next year. Therefore pieces which were delivered in the same calendar year could be struck with consecutive date letters, as is the case here. The date letter for 1790 commenced on 29 May 1790 and remained in use until 30 May 1791. The candlesticks, which form the bases for the candelabra, were delivered to Lord Cremorne on 21 May 1791, nine days before the change of date letter. The more complex and costly branches are struck with the date letter for 1791-2, and were delivered seven months later on 21 December 1791.
As noted above candelabra of the same form were commissioned soon after by another of Wakelin and Taylor’s aristocratic clients, Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge (1744-1812). First offered for sale in 1976 both pairs have recently been sold, one pair in the Exceptional Sale, Christie’s, London, 4 July 2013, lot 1 and the other pair in the sale of the collection of Giorgio Marsan and Umberta Nasi, Christie's, London, 12 December 2007, lot 38. These pairs are the only 18th century examples to have appeared on the market. All are designed in the George III 'Roman fashion' employing classical architectural motifs to symbolise antique Roman virtues and deities. The spirally fluted baluster-vase candlesticks recall antique Roman altar forms, the fluting reminiscent of that found on strigil-fluted Roman sarcophagi. The central flame finials evoke love's eternal flame mounted on an altar pedestal. The ribbon-bound borders of the nozzles, formed from bundles of reeds, recall the Arcadian satyr Pan.
The Garrard Ledgers
A remarkable and fascinating record of silver produced in the 18th century is preserved in the Gentlemen's Ledgers of the goldsmith George Wickes and his successors in the business, Edward Wakelin, his son John Wakelin, William Taylor, John Parker and Robert Garrard. In these ledgers we are able to discover the contemporary description of silver commissioned by many of the great families of Britain and Ireland, along with full details, weights and costs, not because the invoice remains in the archives of the families, but because of a chance meeting between the silver scholar Norman Penzer, and Garrards' company secretary, on the afternoon of a sale held by the company in 1952.
Penzer had bought a number of Royal Plate inventories in the sale. He was asked by the company secretary whether he would be interested in seeing a number of their old ledgers. The old ledgers proved to be a unique run of company accounts dating from the time of their founder, the goldsmith George Wickes in 1735, through to the late 19th century. Penzer, Arthur Grimwade, Christie's Director of Silver, and John Hayward of the Victoria and Albert Museum, worked throughout the afternoon, sorting and stacking the books, which were then delivered to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Now available on microfiche, the ledgers are an unrivalled source of information, regarding the use, description and cost of all manner of silver and silver-gilt objects.