Her Majesty’s Vase: A horse racing trophy by John Samuel Hunt

Trinity House silver presentation cup and cover, 1795. This cup is modelled in the classical style with a fluted foot chased with a band of laurel leaves supporting the fluted lower ...

The large and interesting silver gilt trophy of Captain George Welstead, purchased with prize money from the East India Company, 1805, in the form of a footed cup with a separate cover, with two arched scrolling acanthus handles, incised and chased with a band of scrolling vines and a continuous thick garland of flowers suspended by two tied bows around two cartouches, one with a later applied panel showing the coat of arms of the East India Company (a shield surmounted by a helmet, flanked by lion supporters each holding a British standard, motto ‘Auspicio Regis et Senatus Angliæ’), the other with six putti driving a cart pulled by a pair of lionesses, the cover with a collar of pointed leaves and the Welstead family crest (a hind trippant), the foot with an inscription stating ‘A remembrance of the East India Company’s Present, to Captn G. Welstead, of four hundred guineas. June 11, 1805′. Assay marks for WH, London, 1795. English. Condition: repairs to old damage on the stem. Provenance: The collection of Carl De Santis, sold at Christie’s, 17th March 1999, lot 91 Sold subsequently at Sotheby’s 4th November 2011, lot 253 This is a fascinating documentary item. It is not, in itself, a presentation piece of plate. The wording makes it clear that Welstead was presented with money so he must have chosen to buy this piece with some of his prize to remember his success in the future. This also explains why the vase, probably bought second hand, predates the inscription by 10 years and has a later panel with the East India Coat of Arms applied to one side. Unfortunately, the precise reason for the award of 400 Guineas to Welstead in 1805 is not recorded. At this point he was captain of the East Indiaman Euphrates and it is recorded in Shipbuilding & Shipping Record: A Journal of Shipbuilding, Marine Engineering, Dock, Harbours & Shipping, Vol. 68, pp. 134 & 162, that Lloyds of London presented him with a “silver tureen” for successfully refloating the vessel when she had run aground in the Hooghli river. It is quite likely the HEIC rewarded him for this same event. Welstead received several gifts of silver during the course of his incredibly successful career, including having a bespoke presentation centrepiece commissioned for him through a subscription by the grateful officers on his ship circa 1825. A superb design drawing for an extraordinary chinoiserie silver centrepiece, made by the firm of Green, Ward & Co-rivals to Rundell Bridge and Rundell...

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