Description

An important pair of George IV silver-gilt Triton salts
Paul Storr, London 1822-23
each on shaped oval wave-capped base, supporting a triton pulling a nautilus shell (2)
13cm long, 18oz

Footnote

Monogram AGBC is for Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts Grand daughter of the banker Thomas Coutts and heiress to Harriet Duchess of St Albans

Provenance: Christie's,

Similar set of eight exhibited: "The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection," Christie's, London, 1989, no.151.

Literature: J. B. Hawkins, The Al-Tajir Collection of Silver and Gold, London 1983, vol.1, p.164-65 for the set of eight
"The Glory of the Goldsmith: Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection," 1989, no.151. p.198

The design for these salt cellars is attributed to the painted and sculptor William Theed (1764-1817), on the basis of its close similarity to the artist's bronze "Thetis returning form Vulcan with Arms for Achilles," in the Royal Collection and exhibited in the Royal Academy of Arts Bicentenary Exhibition, fig. 171, p.50. Theed supplied designs and worked as the chief modeller for Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, and a design drawing for these salt cellars from an album belonging to Rundell's is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see A. Phillips and J. Sloane, Antiquity Revisited: English and French Silver gilt form the Collection of Audrey Love, 1997, pp.48-49)

There are atleast three variations of this model, each with a differing base. A set of 24 with oval base by Paul Storr of 1810 is in the Royal George IVs Palace, 1991, cat. No.95, p.133.
A set of four salt cellars with oval base, by William Pitts of 1813, is illustrated in Antiquity Revisited, cat. No.6, p.47.
A set of four, each on rectangular plinth with chased vitruvian scroll border, by Paul Storr from 1812, sold from the collection of Charles and Fay Plohn, Sotheby's, New York, July 16, 1970, lot. 138.
A set of four salt cellars, each with a base similar to the present lot, was produced by John Samuel Hunt in 1855 and sold at Christie's, London, March 17, 1999, lot.50.
As a successor to Paul Storr, Hunt evidently retained and continued to use the salt cellar mould.