Bonhams
Lot 59
An important Chamberlain Worcester cabinet plate by Thomas Baxter, circa 1820In the 'Regent' body, the rim moulded with shells and gadrooning picked out in gold, the cavetto fully painted with an arrangement of seashells on a richly grained wooden tabletop, the shells including a paper nautilus and a wentletrap, the panel outlined with a fine black line and surrounded by a wide gilt band and a formal classical border, 21.4cm diam, red script mark referring to New Bond Street addressFootnotes:ProvenanceBonhams sale, 7 December 2005, lot 254Twinight CollectionIllustrated by John Sandon, Worcester Porcelain (2009), p.21. For the same shells arranged on a grey marble table top, see the celebrated Swansea plate by Thomas Baxter in the National Museum of Wales (NMW A 38267), illustrated by John O Wilstead and Bernard Morris, Thomas Baxter The Swansea Years 1816-19 (1997), p.38. Baxter returned to Worcester after leaving Swansea, working first for the Flight, Barr and Barr partnership before moving to Chamberlain where he replicated this extraordinary still life scene.In the Museum of Royal Worcester is a pair of Chamberlain plates painted by Thomas Baxter with still lives of fruit. These had remained in the works collection and were acquired by R W Binns for his first museum. The panels on these plate and the present lot mirror a style that Thomas Baxter had used on Coalport plates painted twelve years earlier while he was in London. In June 1820, Chamberlain supplied to John Eversley '30 dessert plates, gadroon and gold with fine paintings of fruit', at a cost of £2 17s. 6d. each- a considerable sum. Presumably these thirty plates had different still life subjects by Baxter and it is likely the present lot with shells was part of this special commission.Baxter is justifiably famous for his shell painting. Examples painted while he was at Flights factory include panels that were titled by Baxter himself 'shells from nature'. In other words, instead of just copying prints of shells, Baxter drew real shells and he would have borrowed actual specimens from collectors. Lewis Dillwyn, proprietor of the Swansea factory owned a notable shell collection, but as Wilstead noted (op cit, pp.37-38), it is unlikely Baxter's Swansea plate was painted from any of Dillwyn's shells. The precious wentletrap shell, named from the Dutch for 'spiral staircase', was once considered to be extremely rare and in the mid 18th century some specimens were sold to collectors for enormous sums. Even as late as 1786 an example belonging to the Duchess of Portland sold at auction for seven guineas. Placing a wentletrap among his shell composition, Thomas Baxter was possibly appealing to wealthy patrons from his time in London, who would have appreciated such a valuable specimen.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
