Robert Garrard II (1793 - 1881) A Set of Twelve Lion Mask & Floral Salt Cellars

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Silver
George III, London, 1814
Maker’s Mark of Robert Garrard

Width: 10.7 cm, 4 ¼ in.
Weight: 5763 g, 203 oz.
 

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Provenance

Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath (1765-1837) and then by descent to John Alexander Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831-1896) and then by descent at Longleat
 

Literature

Robert Garrard's Gentleman's Ledger, 1811-1817, fol. 309 (Victoria and Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design. MS SD.95.0050)
2nd Marquess of Bath, Heirlooms, 1896 Inventory of Plate: 'Twelve circular salts on feet heavily chased with fruit and lion mask heads.'
 

Silversmith Biography

Robert Garrard II was apprenticed in 1809 to his father, Robert Garrard I, a partner of Wakelin and Company, and gained his freedom of the Grocers' Company by patrimony in 1816. After the death of his father in 1818, Garrard entered his mark and, with his brothers James and Sebastian, took over the management of the workshop. During the early nineteenth century, the firm's business expanded at a tremendous rate, especially after the decline of Rundell, Bridge and Rundell in the 1820s. In 1830, the Garrard’s were appointed goldsmiths and jewellers to the king and in 1843 official crown jewellers. A large design studio was set up by them, which was modelled on that developed by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell and employed several well-known painters and sculptors, including Edmund Cotterill. During the mid-nineteenth century, Garrard's was one of the leading producers of elaborate presentation silver.

Description

The compressed circular bodies, of unusually large size, each applied with four cast festoons of flowers between as many lion mask, paw and bun supports. The undersides engraved with a crest below a marquess's coronet, complete with twelve detachable silver liners with gilt interiors, the salts and liners numbered 1 to 12 11cm.