Of oval outline, with basket weave pattern sides, rope twist handles and rim, engraved to the centre with coats-of-arms each within a garter and below a coronet.
This massive silver-gilt tray was supplied by the Royal retailers Rundell, Bridge & Rundell for presentation by George III to his godson when ten years old. Sackville had succeeded as Duke of Dorset a few years before at the age of six.
Inscribed:
'Given by his most excellent Majesty George the III, to his Godson, George John Frederick Sackville, Duke of Dorset, Born Novr.15, 1793'.
George John Frederick Sackville, 4th Duke of Dorset (15 November 1793 – 14 February 1815), styled Earl of Middlesex until 1799, was a British nobleman.
The only son of John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset and his wife Arabella, he was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, receiving a MA from the latter on 30 June 1813.
He was appointed High Steward of Stratford-on-Avon, and was commissioned a captain of the local militia on 27 April 1813. On 26 July 1813, he was made lieutenant-colonel commandant of the Sevenoaks and Bromley battalion of militia. However, he died in February 1815, of a fall from his horse while hunting on Killiney Hill in County Dublin, and was succeeded as duke by his cousin Charles Sackville-Germain. His estate of Knole passed to his sister Elizabeth Sackville-West, Countess De La Warr.
Joseph Preedy
Son of the Rev. Benjamin Preedy of St. Albans in the County of Hertford clerk, apprenticed to Thomas Whipham 2 October 1765 and turned over 9 June 1766 to William Plummer of Gutter Lane goldsmith, Citizen and Clothworker on consideration of £21. Free, 4 August 1773 as plateworker. First mark entered as plateworker, 3 February 1777. Address: Westmoreland Buildings, Aldersgate Street. Second mark, in partnership with William Pitts, 11 January 1791. Address: Litchfield Street, St. Ann's, 3 August 1795. The partnership was apparently dissolved by 21 December 1799 when Pitts entered a single mark. Third mark alone, 20 January 1800. Address: 8 Great Newport Street. Heal records all the above addresses and dates, and also Preedy alone in Litchfield Street in 1791, the year of the commencement of the partnership with Pitts.
Given by King George III to his godson, George, 4th Duke of Dorset
The Al-Tajir Collection
Niederhofer Collection
Christie's Review of the Season, 1987, Charles Truman.
The Glory of the Goldsdmith: Magnificent Gold & Silver from the Al-
Tajir Collection, 1989, p. 151, no 113
Christopher Hartop, Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell & Bridge 1797-1843, 2005, p.50 fig. 40 and p. 148, no 4
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