Thomas Heming A Fantastic Rococo Kettle on Stand

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Silver
George II, London, 1758
Maker’s mark of Thomas Heming

Height 15 ¼ in, 38 cm                                                                                                      
Weight: 2,560 g, 82 oz 6 dwt

 

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Silversmith Biography

The son of a Midlands merchant, Thomas Heming was apprenticed to Edmund Bodington on March 7, 1738, and turned over on the same day to the Huguenot goldsmith Peter Archambo. He registered his first mark in June 1745; in 1760 he was appointed principal goldsmith to King George III, in which capacity he was responsible for supplying regalia and plate required for the coronation. Heming held this appointment until 1782, when he was ousted after an investigation into his apparently excessive charges. Grimwade (1976, p. 543) comments that "some of his earlier surviving pieces in the Royal collection show a French delicacy of taste and refinement of execution which is unquestionably inherited from his master Archambo." Among Heming's outstanding works are a silver-gilt toilet service made for Queen Caroline of Denmark in 1766 (Dankse Kunstidustrimuseum, Copenhagen; Hernmarck 1977, pl. 727) and a wine cistern of 1770, made for Speaker Brownlow (Belton House, Lincolnshire; Grimwade 1974, pl. 12).

Description

The kettle with swirling flutes and beading and with quilted pattern to the handle and three legs. Engraved with a contemporary coat-of-arms to the main body and crest to the stand. The spout formed as a griffin's head.