26
A Chinese Celadon-Glazed Porcelain Ge-Type Moon Flask With George IV Silver-Gilt Mounts, The
1/7
Description
the flattened globular body on a short oval foot, surmounted by a cylindrical neck applied with a pair of pierced dragon handles, the glaze suffused with a matrix of dark grey and gold crackles, the mounts cast and chased with borders of acanthus foliage, with a screw-on chained domed cover
height 17 7/8in.; 45.5 cm
Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 13 July 2005, lot 207, when it was stated that, by repute, the flask had been removed during the 19th century from Brighton Pavilion and had descended thereafter in the seller's family.
Catalogue note
Trade cards, bill-heads, advertisements, newspaper reports and existing examples of silver and silver-gilt are abundant evidence that the early 19th century London goldsmith, Thomas Hamlet counted among his customers members of the British royal family. George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and their sisters, the Princesses Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia were all purchasers at his shop in Princes Street, Leicester Square. Hamlet’s principal silversmith during the most fruitful years of his career was William Elliott of Clerkenwell and it is the latter’s mark which is struck on the mounts of this flask. Moreover, while the design of Elliott’s mounts, particularly the shape of the screw-on cover, nods in the direction of China as befits the flask itself, the silversmith was actually looking for his inspiration at a pair of late 17th century silver flasks, George Garthorne, London, 1690, which were then owned by the Duke of York. These were acquired in 1827 by George IV and are now in the royal collection, presently on view in the Lantern Lobby, Windsor Castle. Elliott (and therefore Hamlet) knew of the Garthorne flasks as early as 1823 when he copied them for the Peel family of Drayton Manor, Staffordshire, one of whom was Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), Home Secretary from 1822 to 1827 and Prime Minister in 1834/35 and from 1841 to 1846.
That the flask in this lot is said to have been removed from Brighton Pavilion immediately brings to mind the large number of Oriental vases, flasks and other objects, many mounted in ormolu, which George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, began to acquire in the 1780s for the Chinese Room at Carlton House.1 Many of these treasures were later removed to the Prince’s seaside villa or palace at Brighton, which he and his architect, John Nash enlarged and embellished between about 1815 and mid 1820s; as a writer in The Brighton Gleaner observed, it was a continuing project:
‘The splendid decorations of the palace, in the aggregate considered, afford the most pleasing testimony, that John Bull, with suitable encouragement, has it within the scope of his own powers, to excel all the boasted frippery ornaments of the continent.
‘The palace, generally, however, is yet undergoing improvements, the real nature of which it is impossible to write with certainty upon, though they are to be continued in the Chinese taste and style, and to display a magnificence suitable to the high rank and dignity of the owner.’2
The taste for Chinese decoration was shared by a number of the Prince’s contemporaries. Harley Place, Bath, belonging to Sir Robert Wilmot, 3rd Bt. (1765-1842) boasted ‘a tasteful Chinese passage . . . handsomely fitted up with Chinese decoration.’3 The Hon. Frederick West (1767-1852), third son of 2nd Earl De La Warr, lived at 37 Upper Grosvenor Street, which for the 1819 season had undergone improvements including the Chinese Room which ‘displayed all its nouvelle embellishments.’4
Of this relatively small group of sinophiles, apart from the Prince of Wales himself, by far the most celebrated was William Beckford (1760-1844), the wealthy, eccentric bibliophile and collector who built Fonthill Abbey. He amassed a large group of Chinese ceramics, many of which were mounted in silver or silver-gilt. Perhaps the most striking example was the white porcelain bottle made at Jinkdezhen early in the 14th century which had been presented to Charles III of Durazzo by Louis the Great of Hungary in 1381.5
William Elliott
The mounts on the present flask bear the mark of William Elliott (1773-1855), the manufacturing silversmith of 25 Compton Street, Clerkenwell. The lack of any substantial information about him and his workshop in no way diminishes the exceptional quality of much of the surviving silver and silver-gilt which bears his mark. As in the retail/manufacturer relationships which existed between Rundell, Bridge & Rundell and Paul Storr and Kensington Lewis and Edward Farrell, there is good evidence to suggest that Elliott was chief supplier of new plate to the goldsmith and jeweller, Thomas Hamlet (1770?-1853).
William Elliott, who was born on 22 March 1773 and baptized at St. James’s, Piccadilly on 6 April following, was the eldest child of William Elliott and his wife, Rebecca.6 At the age of 14 in May 1787 he was apprenticed to Richard Gardner, Citizen and Goldsmith, of Silver Street, Golden Square, Soho, when his father was described as ‘of Warwick Lane London plate worker.’7
Richard Gardner (active ?1745-?1795) had been apprenticed in 1745 to William Cripps (1715-1766), a prominent London manufacturing and retail silversmith of the middle of the 18th century, who in turn was apprenticed in 1731 to the Huguenot goldsmith, David Willaume (1658-1741).
Elliott gained his freedom of the Goldsmiths’ Company upon completing his apprenticeship on 1 April 1795. In 1799 he was recorded as of Warwick Lane (not to be confused with his father at the same address) when he took John Angell, brother of Joseph Angell, as apprentice.8
Although for the next ten and a half years Elliott disappears from view, he was married and had two children: Richard William (1805?-1866) and Jane Rebecca (1805?-1860). The next firm date found for him is 6 October 1809, when he entered his first mark in partnership with Joseph William Story (1781?-1864), from 25 Compton Street, Clerkenwell.
A former apprentice of the smallworker Abstainando King (1764-1833), Story dissolved his partnership with Elliott in 1813. Story is then discovered as a silversmith in Southwark on 8 July 1821 when one of his daughters, Ann Sarah was christened at St. Saviour on 28 December 1830. Story, his wife, Mary (née Gilbert), their six children and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert arrived at Hobart Town, Tasmania on board the ship ‘Mary.’ Unlike the London silversmith Thomas Wimbush (1805/06-1869), however, who was transported to the island at Her Majesty’s pleasure in 1849, Story’s emigration was voluntary.9
William Elliott remained at 25 Compton Street for the rest of his working life. Among his apprentices there were Charles Fry (d. 1826) and his brother, John (d. 1859). Subsequently also working in Clerkenwell, the Frys entered their joint mark on 29 August 1822. Their work, which is not common, includes a pair of five-light candelabra, London, 1824/25, the bases of which are cast with the royal arms.10 It has been suggested that they might have been Elliott’s outworkers.
In 1842 Elliott apparently handed over the day to day running of the business to his son, Richard William. The latter’s mark, entered on 13 January that year, is seldom seen, however, which his hardly surprising because he was declared bankrupt less than two years later in November 1843.11 Meanwhile, his father, a widower, retired with his daughter12 to a five bedroom house at Northfleet Hill, near Gravesend, Kent, with ‘excellent soft water, comman
height 17 7/8in.; 45.5 cm
Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 13 July 2005, lot 207, when it was stated that, by repute, the flask had been removed during the 19th century from Brighton Pavilion and had descended thereafter in the seller's family.
Catalogue note
Trade cards, bill-heads, advertisements, newspaper reports and existing examples of silver and silver-gilt are abundant evidence that the early 19th century London goldsmith, Thomas Hamlet counted among his customers members of the British royal family. George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and their sisters, the Princesses Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia were all purchasers at his shop in Princes Street, Leicester Square. Hamlet’s principal silversmith during the most fruitful years of his career was William Elliott of Clerkenwell and it is the latter’s mark which is struck on the mounts of this flask. Moreover, while the design of Elliott’s mounts, particularly the shape of the screw-on cover, nods in the direction of China as befits the flask itself, the silversmith was actually looking for his inspiration at a pair of late 17th century silver flasks, George Garthorne, London, 1690, which were then owned by the Duke of York. These were acquired in 1827 by George IV and are now in the royal collection, presently on view in the Lantern Lobby, Windsor Castle. Elliott (and therefore Hamlet) knew of the Garthorne flasks as early as 1823 when he copied them for the Peel family of Drayton Manor, Staffordshire, one of whom was Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), Home Secretary from 1822 to 1827 and Prime Minister in 1834/35 and from 1841 to 1846.
That the flask in this lot is said to have been removed from Brighton Pavilion immediately brings to mind the large number of Oriental vases, flasks and other objects, many mounted in ormolu, which George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, began to acquire in the 1780s for the Chinese Room at Carlton House.1 Many of these treasures were later removed to the Prince’s seaside villa or palace at Brighton, which he and his architect, John Nash enlarged and embellished between about 1815 and mid 1820s; as a writer in The Brighton Gleaner observed, it was a continuing project:
‘The splendid decorations of the palace, in the aggregate considered, afford the most pleasing testimony, that John Bull, with suitable encouragement, has it within the scope of his own powers, to excel all the boasted frippery ornaments of the continent.
‘The palace, generally, however, is yet undergoing improvements, the real nature of which it is impossible to write with certainty upon, though they are to be continued in the Chinese taste and style, and to display a magnificence suitable to the high rank and dignity of the owner.’2
The taste for Chinese decoration was shared by a number of the Prince’s contemporaries. Harley Place, Bath, belonging to Sir Robert Wilmot, 3rd Bt. (1765-1842) boasted ‘a tasteful Chinese passage . . . handsomely fitted up with Chinese decoration.’3 The Hon. Frederick West (1767-1852), third son of 2nd Earl De La Warr, lived at 37 Upper Grosvenor Street, which for the 1819 season had undergone improvements including the Chinese Room which ‘displayed all its nouvelle embellishments.’4
Of this relatively small group of sinophiles, apart from the Prince of Wales himself, by far the most celebrated was William Beckford (1760-1844), the wealthy, eccentric bibliophile and collector who built Fonthill Abbey. He amassed a large group of Chinese ceramics, many of which were mounted in silver or silver-gilt. Perhaps the most striking example was the white porcelain bottle made at Jinkdezhen early in the 14th century which had been presented to Charles III of Durazzo by Louis the Great of Hungary in 1381.5
William Elliott
The mounts on the present flask bear the mark of William Elliott (1773-1855), the manufacturing silversmith of 25 Compton Street, Clerkenwell. The lack of any substantial information about him and his workshop in no way diminishes the exceptional quality of much of the surviving silver and silver-gilt which bears his mark. As in the retail/manufacturer relationships which existed between Rundell, Bridge & Rundell and Paul Storr and Kensington Lewis and Edward Farrell, there is good evidence to suggest that Elliott was chief supplier of new plate to the goldsmith and jeweller, Thomas Hamlet (1770?-1853).
William Elliott, who was born on 22 March 1773 and baptized at St. James’s, Piccadilly on 6 April following, was the eldest child of William Elliott and his wife, Rebecca.6 At the age of 14 in May 1787 he was apprenticed to Richard Gardner, Citizen and Goldsmith, of Silver Street, Golden Square, Soho, when his father was described as ‘of Warwick Lane London plate worker.’7
Richard Gardner (active ?1745-?1795) had been apprenticed in 1745 to William Cripps (1715-1766), a prominent London manufacturing and retail silversmith of the middle of the 18th century, who in turn was apprenticed in 1731 to the Huguenot goldsmith, David Willaume (1658-1741).
Elliott gained his freedom of the Goldsmiths’ Company upon completing his apprenticeship on 1 April 1795. In 1799 he was recorded as of Warwick Lane (not to be confused with his father at the same address) when he took John Angell, brother of Joseph Angell, as apprentice.8
Although for the next ten and a half years Elliott disappears from view, he was married and had two children: Richard William (1805?-1866) and Jane Rebecca (1805?-1860). The next firm date found for him is 6 October 1809, when he entered his first mark in partnership with Joseph William Story (1781?-1864), from 25 Compton Street, Clerkenwell.
A former apprentice of the smallworker Abstainando King (1764-1833), Story dissolved his partnership with Elliott in 1813. Story is then discovered as a silversmith in Southwark on 8 July 1821 when one of his daughters, Ann Sarah was christened at St. Saviour on 28 December 1830. Story, his wife, Mary (née Gilbert), their six children and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert arrived at Hobart Town, Tasmania on board the ship ‘Mary.’ Unlike the London silversmith Thomas Wimbush (1805/06-1869), however, who was transported to the island at Her Majesty’s pleasure in 1849, Story’s emigration was voluntary.9
William Elliott remained at 25 Compton Street for the rest of his working life. Among his apprentices there were Charles Fry (d. 1826) and his brother, John (d. 1859). Subsequently also working in Clerkenwell, the Frys entered their joint mark on 29 August 1822. Their work, which is not common, includes a pair of five-light candelabra, London, 1824/25, the bases of which are cast with the royal arms.10 It has been suggested that they might have been Elliott’s outworkers.
In 1842 Elliott apparently handed over the day to day running of the business to his son, Richard William. The latter’s mark, entered on 13 January that year, is seldom seen, however, which his hardly surprising because he was declared bankrupt less than two years later in November 1843.11 Meanwhile, his father, a widower, retired with his daughter12 to a five bedroom house at Northfleet Hill, near Gravesend, Kent, with ‘excellent soft water, comman
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the flattened globular body on a short oval foot, surmounted by a cylindrical neck applied with a pair of pierced dragon handles, the glaze suffused with a matrix of dark grey and gold crackles, the mounts cast and chased with borders of acanthus foliage, with a screw-on chained domed cover
height 17 7/8in.; 45.5 cm
Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 13 July 2005, lot 207, when it was stated that, by repute, the flask had been removed during the 19th century from Brighton Pavilion and had descended thereafter in the seller's family.
Catalogue note
Trade cards, bill-heads, advertisements, newspaper reports and existing examples of silver and silver-gilt are abundant evidence that the early 19th century London goldsmith, Thomas Hamlet counted among his customers members of the British royal family. George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and their sisters, the Princesses Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia were all purchasers at his shop in Princes Street, Leicester Square. Hamlet’s principal silversmith during the most fruitful years of his career was William Elliott of Clerkenwell and it is the latter’s mark which is struck on the mounts of this flask. Moreover, while the design of Elliott’s mounts, particularly the shape of the screw-on cover, nods in the direction of China as befits the flask itself, the silversmith was actually looking for his inspiration at a pair of late 17th century silver flasks, George Garthorne, London, 1690, which were then owned by the Duke of York. These were acquired in 1827 by George IV and are now in the royal collection, presently on view in the Lantern Lobby, Windsor Castle. Elliott (and therefore Hamlet) knew of the Garthorne flasks as early as 1823 when he copied them for the Peel family of Drayton Manor, Staffordshire, one of whom was Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), Home Secretary from 1822 to 1827 and Prime Minister in 1834/35 and from 1841 to 1846.
That the flask in this lot is said to have been removed from Brighton Pavilion immediately brings to mind the large number of Oriental vases, flasks and other objects, many mounted in ormolu, which George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, began to acquire in the 1780s for the Chinese Room at Carlton House.1 Many of these treasures were later removed to the Prince’s seaside villa or palace at Brighton, which he and his architect, John Nash enlarged and embellished between about 1815 and mid 1820s; as a writer in The Brighton Gleaner observed, it was a continuing project:
‘The splendid decorations of the palace, in the aggregate considered, afford the most pleasing testimony, that John Bull, with suitable encouragement, has it within the scope of his own powers, to excel all the boasted frippery ornaments of the continent.
‘The palace, generally, however, is yet undergoing improvements, the real nature of which it is impossible to write with certainty upon, though they are to be continued in the Chinese taste and style, and to display a magnificence suitable to the high rank and dignity of the owner.’2
The taste for Chinese decoration was shared by a number of the Prince’s contemporaries. Harley Place, Bath, belonging to Sir Robert Wilmot, 3rd Bt. (1765-1842) boasted ‘a tasteful Chinese passage . . . handsomely fitted up with Chinese decoration.’3 The Hon. Frederick West (1767-1852), third son of 2nd Earl De La Warr, lived at 37 Upper Grosvenor Street, which for the 1819 season had undergone improvements including the Chinese Room which ‘displayed all its nouvelle embellishments.’4
Of this relatively small group of sinophiles, apart from the Prince of Wales himself, by far the most celebrated was William Beckford (1760-1844), the wealthy, eccentric bibliophile and collector who built Fonthill Abbey. He amassed a large group of Chinese ceramics, many of which were mounted in silver or silver-gilt. Perhaps the most striking example was the white porcelain bottle made at Jinkdezhen early in the 14th century which had been presented to Charles III of Durazzo by Louis the Great of Hungary in 1381.5
William Elliott
The mounts on the present flask bear the mark of William Elliott (1773-1855), the manufacturing silversmith of 25 Compton Street, Clerkenwell. The lack of any substantial information about him and his workshop in no way diminishes the exceptional quality of much of the surviving silver and silver-gilt which bears his mark. As in the retail/manufacturer relationships which existed between Rundell, Bridge & Rundell and Paul Storr and Kensington Lewis and Edward Farrell, there is good evidence to suggest that Elliott was chief supplier of new plate to the goldsmith and jeweller, Thomas Hamlet (1770?-1853).
William Elliott, who was born on 22 March 1773 and baptized at St. James’s, Piccadilly on 6 April following, was the eldest child of William Elliott and his wife, Rebecca.6 At the age of 14 in May 1787 he was apprenticed to Richard Gardner, Citizen and Goldsmith, of Silver Street, Golden Square, Soho, when his father was described as ‘of Warwick Lane London plate worker.’7
Richard Gardner (active ?1745-?1795) had been apprenticed in 1745 to William Cripps (1715-1766), a prominent London manufacturing and retail silversmith of the middle of the 18th century, who in turn was apprenticed in 1731 to the Huguenot goldsmith, David Willaume (1658-1741).
Elliott gained his freedom of the Goldsmiths’ Company upon completing his apprenticeship on 1 April 1795. In 1799 he was recorded as of Warwick Lane (not to be confused with his father at the same address) when he took John Angell, brother of Joseph Angell, as apprentice.8
Although for the next ten and a half years Elliott disappears from view, he was married and had two children: Richard William (1805?-1866) and Jane Rebecca (1805?-1860). The next firm date found for him is 6 October 1809, when he entered his first mark in partnership with Joseph William Story (1781?-1864), from 25 Compton Street, Clerkenwell.
A former apprentice of the smallworker Abstainando King (1764-1833), Story dissolved his partnership with Elliott in 1813. Story is then discovered as a silversmith in Southwark on 8 July 1821 when one of his daughters, Ann Sarah was christened at St. Saviour on 28 December 1830. Story, his wife, Mary (née Gilbert), their six children and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert arrived at Hobart Town, Tasmania on board the ship ‘Mary.’ Unlike the London silversmith Thomas Wimbush (1805/06-1869), however, who was transported to the island at Her Majesty’s pleasure in 1849, Story’s emigration was voluntary.9
William Elliott remained at 25 Compton Street for the rest of his working life. Among his apprentices there were Charles Fry (d. 1826) and his brother, John (d. 1859). Subsequently also working in Clerkenwell, the Frys entered their joint mark on 29 August 1822. Their work, which is not common, includes a pair of five-light candelabra, London, 1824/25, the bases of which are cast with the royal arms.10 It has been suggested that they might have been Elliott’s outworkers.
In 1842 Elliott apparently handed over the day to day running of the business to his son, Richard William. The latter’s mark, entered on 13 January that year, is seldom seen, however, which his hardly surprising because he was declared bankrupt less than two years later in November 1843.11 Meanwhile, his father, a widower, retired with his daughter12 to a five bedroom house at Northfleet Hill, near Gravesend, Kent, with ‘excellent soft water, comman
height 17 7/8in.; 45.5 cm
Provenance
Sotheby's, London, 13 July 2005, lot 207, when it was stated that, by repute, the flask had been removed during the 19th century from Brighton Pavilion and had descended thereafter in the seller's family.
Catalogue note
Trade cards, bill-heads, advertisements, newspaper reports and existing examples of silver and silver-gilt are abundant evidence that the early 19th century London goldsmith, Thomas Hamlet counted among his customers members of the British royal family. George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and their sisters, the Princesses Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia were all purchasers at his shop in Princes Street, Leicester Square. Hamlet’s principal silversmith during the most fruitful years of his career was William Elliott of Clerkenwell and it is the latter’s mark which is struck on the mounts of this flask. Moreover, while the design of Elliott’s mounts, particularly the shape of the screw-on cover, nods in the direction of China as befits the flask itself, the silversmith was actually looking for his inspiration at a pair of late 17th century silver flasks, George Garthorne, London, 1690, which were then owned by the Duke of York. These were acquired in 1827 by George IV and are now in the royal collection, presently on view in the Lantern Lobby, Windsor Castle. Elliott (and therefore Hamlet) knew of the Garthorne flasks as early as 1823 when he copied them for the Peel family of Drayton Manor, Staffordshire, one of whom was Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850), Home Secretary from 1822 to 1827 and Prime Minister in 1834/35 and from 1841 to 1846.
That the flask in this lot is said to have been removed from Brighton Pavilion immediately brings to mind the large number of Oriental vases, flasks and other objects, many mounted in ormolu, which George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, began to acquire in the 1780s for the Chinese Room at Carlton House.1 Many of these treasures were later removed to the Prince’s seaside villa or palace at Brighton, which he and his architect, John Nash enlarged and embellished between about 1815 and mid 1820s; as a writer in The Brighton Gleaner observed, it was a continuing project:
‘The splendid decorations of the palace, in the aggregate considered, afford the most pleasing testimony, that John Bull, with suitable encouragement, has it within the scope of his own powers, to excel all the boasted frippery ornaments of the continent.
‘The palace, generally, however, is yet undergoing improvements, the real nature of which it is impossible to write with certainty upon, though they are to be continued in the Chinese taste and style, and to display a magnificence suitable to the high rank and dignity of the owner.’2
The taste for Chinese decoration was shared by a number of the Prince’s contemporaries. Harley Place, Bath, belonging to Sir Robert Wilmot, 3rd Bt. (1765-1842) boasted ‘a tasteful Chinese passage . . . handsomely fitted up with Chinese decoration.’3 The Hon. Frederick West (1767-1852), third son of 2nd Earl De La Warr, lived at 37 Upper Grosvenor Street, which for the 1819 season had undergone improvements including the Chinese Room which ‘displayed all its nouvelle embellishments.’4
Of this relatively small group of sinophiles, apart from the Prince of Wales himself, by far the most celebrated was William Beckford (1760-1844), the wealthy, eccentric bibliophile and collector who built Fonthill Abbey. He amassed a large group of Chinese ceramics, many of which were mounted in silver or silver-gilt. Perhaps the most striking example was the white porcelain bottle made at Jinkdezhen early in the 14th century which had been presented to Charles III of Durazzo by Louis the Great of Hungary in 1381.5
William Elliott
The mounts on the present flask bear the mark of William Elliott (1773-1855), the manufacturing silversmith of 25 Compton Street, Clerkenwell. The lack of any substantial information about him and his workshop in no way diminishes the exceptional quality of much of the surviving silver and silver-gilt which bears his mark. As in the retail/manufacturer relationships which existed between Rundell, Bridge & Rundell and Paul Storr and Kensington Lewis and Edward Farrell, there is good evidence to suggest that Elliott was chief supplier of new plate to the goldsmith and jeweller, Thomas Hamlet (1770?-1853).
William Elliott, who was born on 22 March 1773 and baptized at St. James’s, Piccadilly on 6 April following, was the eldest child of William Elliott and his wife, Rebecca.6 At the age of 14 in May 1787 he was apprenticed to Richard Gardner, Citizen and Goldsmith, of Silver Street, Golden Square, Soho, when his father was described as ‘of Warwick Lane London plate worker.’7
Richard Gardner (active ?1745-?1795) had been apprenticed in 1745 to William Cripps (1715-1766), a prominent London manufacturing and retail silversmith of the middle of the 18th century, who in turn was apprenticed in 1731 to the Huguenot goldsmith, David Willaume (1658-1741).
Elliott gained his freedom of the Goldsmiths’ Company upon completing his apprenticeship on 1 April 1795. In 1799 he was recorded as of Warwick Lane (not to be confused with his father at the same address) when he took John Angell, brother of Joseph Angell, as apprentice.8
Although for the next ten and a half years Elliott disappears from view, he was married and had two children: Richard William (1805?-1866) and Jane Rebecca (1805?-1860). The next firm date found for him is 6 October 1809, when he entered his first mark in partnership with Joseph William Story (1781?-1864), from 25 Compton Street, Clerkenwell.
A former apprentice of the smallworker Abstainando King (1764-1833), Story dissolved his partnership with Elliott in 1813. Story is then discovered as a silversmith in Southwark on 8 July 1821 when one of his daughters, Ann Sarah was christened at St. Saviour on 28 December 1830. Story, his wife, Mary (née Gilbert), their six children and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert arrived at Hobart Town, Tasmania on board the ship ‘Mary.’ Unlike the London silversmith Thomas Wimbush (1805/06-1869), however, who was transported to the island at Her Majesty’s pleasure in 1849, Story’s emigration was voluntary.9
William Elliott remained at 25 Compton Street for the rest of his working life. Among his apprentices there were Charles Fry (d. 1826) and his brother, John (d. 1859). Subsequently also working in Clerkenwell, the Frys entered their joint mark on 29 August 1822. Their work, which is not common, includes a pair of five-light candelabra, London, 1824/25, the bases of which are cast with the royal arms.10 It has been suggested that they might have been Elliott’s outworkers.
In 1842 Elliott apparently handed over the day to day running of the business to his son, Richard William. The latter’s mark, entered on 13 January that year, is seldom seen, however, which his hardly surprising because he was declared bankrupt less than two years later in November 1843.11 Meanwhile, his father, a widower, retired with his daughter12 to a five bedroom house at Northfleet Hill, near Gravesend, Kent, with ‘excellent soft water, comman
The Pleasure of Objects: The Ian & Carolina Irving Collection
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10021
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