Lot 415: A PAIR OF GEORGE III SILVER TEA-CADDIES AND A SUGAR BOX

A PAIR OF GEORGE III SILVER TEA-CADDIES AND A SUGAR BOX
MARK ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN GIBSON LEADBETTER, LONDON, 1768, THE CASE MOUNTS POSSIBLY BY JOHN WINTER OF SHEFFIELD
The caddies each shaped oblong and on openwork foliage feet, each side chased with foliage cartouches, three containing a Chinoiserie figure, the fourth engraved with a coat-of-arms, the detachable covers with flower finial, each marked underneath and on cover bezel, the contemporary silver mounted box veneered in satinwood, cross banded with parquetry and padouk, with oval walnut medallions and harewood stringing
the box 9 7/8 in. (25 cm.) wide
26 oz. (815 gr.)
The arms are those of Nicholls impaling Gibson. (3)

This set of caddies and sugar box show the exemplary use of Chinoiserie decoration. The style became the fashionable mode of decoration for much of the silver during the 1750s and 1760s, especially that related to the consumption of tea. Much is made of the publication of Jean-Baptiste Pillement's New Book of Chinese Ornaments by Robert Sayer in 1755. This and the following volumes engraved by Pierre Canot between 1758 and 1759 greatly stimulated the interest in the Chinoiserie style. Sayer's The Ladies Amusement, The Whole Art of Jappaning Made Easy, of 1758 provided patterns for lacquer and also silver, furniture and other decorative arts. These can be seen in the Chinoiserie pieces by Thomas Chippendale, many used for the ceremony of tea drinking, and similar fretwork-like borders were employed by silversmiths for the large silver salvers or tea tables on which the Chinese porcelain cups, the caddies and teapots would have stood. Similar ornament can be seen on a coffee pot by Francis Crump of 1769 in the collection of Leeds Museum at Temple Newsam House illustrated in J. Lomax, British Silver at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1992, p. 132, no. 135.

This set is contained is a very fine contemporary case finely inlaid with exotic wood parquetry. The silver mounts can be attributed to John Winter following research published by James Lomax, op. cit., p. 131, no. 134. The case handle in the collection at Temple Newsam is identical to that on the present lot. He cites three further examples struck with the maker's mark IW attributed to John Winter of Sheffield, notably a set sold Sotheby's, London, 20 October 1977, lot '159, a set from the McIlhenny Collection, Christie's, New York, 20 May 1987, lot 228 and another set illustrated in R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, Woodbridge, 1954, p. 340, fig. 4.

There are numerous Nichols and Gibson families who bore the arms found on the caddies. One possible identification for the arms is that they are for James Nichols of Newport, Isle of White and his wife Elizabeth Gibson, whom he married at St. Mary Woolnoth, London, on 25 October 1788.