Director’s Choice - Timo Koopman
A Unique Discovery
Our continual quest to find the next masterpiece or unearth that lost treasure leads us on the rare occasion to have the fortune of stumbling on something completely unique. This is the first time I have had the pleasure of handling a chocolate jug and not just a single example, but a perfectly formed pair surviving in pristine condition. I have only read about such objects in the past and their presence is something that has only existed in ledgers or inventory records of the royal palaces and aristocratic households. It is easy to make this pair of splendid chocolate jugs my Director’s Choice.
An Exceptionally Rare Pair of Queen Anne Chocolate Jugs
London, 1704,
By George Gillingham
Height: 28.5 cm, 11 ¼ in Weight: 2,268.7 g, 72 oz. 19 dwt.
This pair of serving chocolate jugs are formed in the elegant simplicity of the Queen Anne period. Resting on circular stepped pedestal bases, the main bodies are raised in a baluster shape. Their spouts terminate on the body with cast and applied shell and foliate décor. The sweeping D-shaped handles terminating with escutcheon shields and having the interesting feature of a ring aperture to the outside probably have held the molinet or stirring rod. The other end of the handle meeting the main body with dainty tear-drop architecture. The plain covers with swivel knop finials to allow the aperture to be revealed where the molinet would be inserted to prevent the cholate from separating without losing the heat of the liquid.
By the early eighteenth century, chocolate was a feature of the courtly experience and used to connote regality and the largesse of the Monarch. As such, serving chocolate in the royal palaces by both the Stuart and Hanoverian monarchs, functioned in the same ways as the architecture, art and furnishings of the palaces in conjunction with courtly ceremonies to express the majesty and power of the monarch and because of its associations with gift giving connoted royal munificence.
It is important to stress that consumption of chocolate in the royal court was both reflective and influential upon the ways in which the wider public consumed chocolate. Scholars such as Loveman and Ellis have identified that chocolate-houses, unlike coffee-houses were populated by “a conspicuously leisured clientele”. The clients of the glamorous chocolate houses such as Whites and Ozindas, near the St James’s Palace were also people that you would expect to find to in court. Here it is argued that the activities that took place in chocolate houses, in particular gambling and dancing were courtly activities and as such the chocolate houses were consciously mirroring the court. Moreover, that the monarchs, in providing chocolate and gambling were providing a chocolate-house experience. Chocolate was also administered medicinally within the court. There is evidence to show that throughout the reigns of Charles II to George II the royal physicians and apothecaries were administering chocolate to their patients. In this sense, chocolate was following the prevailing medical trends.
When chocolate was introduced into England, its earliest commentators praised its medicinal properties. Although it swiftly became fashionable for chocolate to be “used for Luxury rather than Physick” chocolate was also prescribed well into the mid eighteenth century. However, due to the expense of chocolate, only the wealthy could afford it. Chocolate was prescribed and administered by the royal physicians and apothecaries from at least the 1680s. As well as being used as a means of display and to connote munificence, chocolate was also drunk by kings and queens for the simple reason of making them feel better.
All works shown, unless otherwise indicated, are available to view and purchase in our gallery located in 12 Dover Street, London, W1S 4LL
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