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Covered cup
Marked by: WW
English (London)
1666–67
Object Place: Europe, London, England
Medium/Technique
Silver
Dimensions
H. 24.1 cm (9 1/2 in.); W. 14 cm (5 1/2 in.); Diameter (of foot) 10.8 cm (4 1/4 in.); Weight 718.9 gm (23 oz 2 dwt)
Credit Line
Theodora Wilbour Fund in memory of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour
Accession Number61.655a-b
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSilver
DescriptionThe urn-shaped cup rests on a doomed foot with a plain rim. The domed cover has a wide flange of shaped outline and rises to a finial in the shape of a two-handled urn surmounted by a flame. The surface is chased overall with a pattern of lobes with auricular chasing on their upper edges. The cup, foot, and cover are raised and chased. The foot is strengthened by an applied drawn wire. The soldered join of the foot to the body of the cup is covered by a heavy molded wire. The cover has an interior wire bezel. The cast finial rests on a formed and with a molded wire border.
Marks
On rim of cup and on underside of flange of cover, maker's mark WW a fleur-de-lis and two pellets below in a shaped shield (Jackson, 1921, p. 131; rev. ed. 1989, p. 128); leopard's head crowned; lion passant (repeated on rim of foot); date letter I
InscriptionsArmorials: Engraved on cup and cover, the arms and crest of Ley surmounted by an earl's coronet for James Ley, third Earl of Marlborough, who was born January 28, 1617/18 and succeeded his father in 1638. He died June 2, 1665.
Inscriptions: Engraved around the flange of cover, Regi, Patriae, Amico, Fidelis, in praelio navali adverus Batavos, strenui Ducis opera fungens, fortissimam animam exhalavit 3 Junii [sic] 1665 (Faithful to his king, his country and his friends, he breathed out his last soul on June 3rd, 1665, performing the duty of a zealous leader in a naval battle against the Dutch)
Inscriptions: Engraved around the flange of cover, Regi, Patriae, Amico, Fidelis, in praelio navali adverus Batavos, strenui Ducis opera fungens, fortissimam animam exhalavit 3 Junii [sic] 1665 (Faithful to his king, his country and his friends, he breathed out his last soul on June 3rd, 1665, performing the duty of a zealous leader in a naval battle against the Dutch)
ProvenanceBefore 1937, Lady Horner (unverified); May 5, 1937, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, lot 121, to Ernest Makower; by descent to Mrs. R. Makower; March 16, 1961, posthumous Makower sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 143, to Thomas Lumley Ltd., London; 1961, sold by Thomas Lumley to the MFA for £2,500. (Accession Date: September 20, 1961)