An exceptional and extensive William IV sterling silver triple table service of flatware / full canteen, London 1836 by Mary Chawner

King’s Rocaille pattern, double struck, each engraved with dual crest of a demi-bear rampant, muzzled and collared and an eagle upon a mount, close. Comprising:

72 table forks (42 London 1847 by George Adams of Chawner and Co)

36 tablespoons

36 dessert forks

36 dessert spoons

24 teaspoons

4 basting spoons

2 gravy spoons

4 sauce ladles

2 soup ladles

1 fish slice

(217)

Table fork length – 21.5 cm / 8.45 inches

Tablespoon length – 22.3 cm / 8.76 inches

Weight – 18,937 grams / 608.84 ozt

This extremely rare pattern, which prior to the discovery of this unrecorded service, was not known to survive in a complete set and had only a precious few examples noted. It is not recorded in the only comprehensive text on 19^th century flatware patterns; Pickford, I. (1983), Silver Flatware: English, Irish and Scottish, 1660-1980, Suffolk: Antiques Collectors Club. The only published example is a fish slice of 1841 by George Adams, erroneously described as Albert Pattern in Rabinovitch, S. B., (1991), Antique Silver Servers for The Dining Table, Massachusetts, Joslin Hall Publishing, p.191, fig. 91.

The only samples from a service in this pattern are from 1837 also by Mary Chawner which are crested with a scallop shell (Private collection). Examples of this pattern have been noted by the author made in Paris by Henri-Louis Chenallier (reg. 3^rd Jan 1839), while these examples pre-date the present service by some years it does not exclude the possibility that the design for this flatware originated in France and passed on to Chenallier who was a prolific flatware manufacturer. This pattern belongs to a small group of largely nameless patterns of the 1830’s largely produced in the tenure of Mary Chawner, which include two versions illustrated in Pickford (1983): p. 126 fig. 180 and 183, but also includes the extensive Listowell dessert service of 1837/39 commissioned from Garrard and Co but produced by Mary Chawner for William Hare, 2nd Earl of Listowell (1801–1856), this pattern is of a ribbon and fruiting vine design.

The name for this pattern has been derived from its design features; the overall shape (King’s) and the use of the decorative element of rocaille to the terminal and heel. The original service of 1836 was extended some ten years later by the same family to increase the number of table forks, the Chawner company at this point was now ran by Mary’s son-in-law George Adams. These examples have the family crests engraved to the back of the terminal as opposed to the front like the 1836 originals. A likely explanation is that the earlier service needed to be extended to include more fish courses, for which the extra table fork was laid on the table by the servants at the time the course was served, thus avoiding an confusion with the meat course fork. Surviving receipts from the 19^th century refer to the twelve inch spoons as “gravy spoons”, now commonly referred to as a basting spoon, the six spoons in two sizes in this service likely flanked a set of four meat dishes and a pair of chafing dishes.

The Chawner firm under William Chawner, to Mary Chawner, to George Adams was unquestionably the most prominent flatware empire of the 19^th century, the largest range of patterns were supplied by this firm and were the manufacturers of choice for the Royal appointed retailers of Hunt & Roskell and Garrard & Co. Francis Higgins, Elkington and Co and the Eaton firm were other notable flatware producers of this period of excellence when flatware design reached its zenith in the middle decades of the 19^th century.