London, England
Covered in applied trailing vines, bearing bunches of ripe grapes, this pair of grand silver-gilt ewers were made by royal goldsmith William Elliott. Each foot rim is inscribed ‘Hamlet Fecit [maker] Goldsmith to the King’ for the entrepreneurial retailer Thomas Hamlet who traded from fashionable premises at 1 Princes Street, Leicester Square. Each bears a coat of arms accompanied by the Ross family motto ‘SPEM SUCCESSUS ALIT’ (Success nourishes hope). The vines and grapes evoke Bacchus, god of wine and merriment. The finely chased matt handles, in the form of gnarled branches, contrast with the brightness of the body.
Earliest Rothschild collector: Nathaniel Charles Jacob, 4th Baron Rothschild; b.1936
Credit: Waddesdon (Rothschild Family)