Advanced Search 
Two-Handled Cup and Cover
Marked by: Samuel Margas (free 1715, active in 1733)
English (London)
1721–22
Object Place: Europe, London, England
Medium/Technique
Silver gilt
Dimensions
33.5 x 32.2 x 18 cm (13 3/16 x 12 11/16 x 7 1/16 in.)
Weight: 2.579.9 gm (82 oz 19 dwt)
Weight: 2.579.9 gm (82 oz 19 dwt)
Credit Line
Theodora Wilbour Fund in memory of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour
Accession Number1975.361a-b
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSilver
DescriptionThe raised bell-shaped body rests on a domed, stepped foot. The foot is raised in several sections and chased with a broad band of basket weave. There is a heavy wire foot rim. The smooth body of the cup is divided at the middle by a horizontal molded wire. Above it are applied cast lambrequins, and beneath it alternating lambrequins and satyr's masks. A coat of arms is engraved in the central cartouch on each side. The harp-shaped handles, cast in two pieces and seamed vertically, are surmounted by scrolls. The domed, stepped cover is assembled from three raised sections joined by cast wires and moldings. There is a cast band of gadrooning around the rim, a row of bedflowers around the midsection, and a dome decorated with chased guilloche above. The whole is surmounted by a spherical finial cast in two vertical sections. There is a crack in the cover where two sections were joined. The dark gilding covers the inside of the foot and has presumably been renewed, but the burnishing marks and engraver's scribings are still visible.
Marks
On underside of foot, maker's mark SM (Grimwade 2588); leopard's head crowned (repeated on underside of cover); lion passant (repeated on underside of cover); date letter F(repeated on underside of cover).
InscriptionsARMORIALS: on one side, Royal Arms and Cipher of George I; on other side, arms of Edgcumbe differenced with a crescent for George Edgcumbe (1720-1795), second surving son of Richard, first baron Edgcumbe of Mount Edgcumbe (1680-1758)
Provenance1721-22, presented by King George I as a christening gift to George Edgcumbe (b. 1720 - d. 1795), 1st Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. 1975, Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent; June 26, 1975, HRH The Duke of Kent sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 63. July, 1975, S.J. Shrubsole (dealer), New York; sold by S. J. Shrubsole to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 10, 1975)