8th Oct, 2024 11:00

Silver & Objects of Vertu
 
  Lot 372
 

A mid-18th century Maltese unmarked silver salver (sottocoppa), circa 1740

A mid-18th century Maltese unmarked silver salver (sottocoppa), circa 1740
Of shaped oval form with moulded rim, raised on four later stile feet. The centre later engraved with an impaled cost of arms within a rocaille and foliate scroll cartouche. Evidence of a central ciruclar foot underneath. Unmarked.
Length – 31.3 cm / 12.4 inches
Weight – 667 grams / 21.44 ozt



The arms are for Lewis of Glamorgan or Nernewt of Buckinghamshire impaling Russell of London

Russell of London Arms: Encyclopaedia Londinensis, Volume 9, edited by John Wilkes


A George Lewis (1735-1791) married Mary Russel (1745-1811) on the 1st of May 1764 in Westminster, Middlesex. George was born in St Bride’s Fleet Street one of many children of Joshua Lewis of Bedfordshire (1697-1775) and Elizabeth Blakesley who were married in March 1721. Mary the daughter of Peter Russell (b.1719) and his first wife Hannah Hoare (d.1749) who were married on the 6th April 1740.


Lewis was a Colonel in the British Army and commander of the Royal Artillery at the Siege of Gibraltar. He served in the several campaigns against the French and Spaniards in America, from 1757 to the end of the war in 1762, and was present at the taking Louisburgh, Quebec, Martinique, and Havannah. He is most famously known for the events that took place on 13 September 1782, at the Siege of Gibraltar, when the artillery under his direction set fire to and destroyed all the floating batteries of the combined forces of France and Spain. For this he was awarded a mark of Royal favour by King George III. He was also a sitter in The Siege and Relief of Gibraltar by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). Two of their children were born in Gibraltar Mary Russel Lewis (1774–1823) and William Hoare Lewis (1777–1803).

A similar sottocoppa of circular form with central foot, marked for the mid-18th century Pinto period see Bologana, A, A., (1995) The Silver of Malta. Malta: MAG Publications, p.74, f.149.

A similar sottocoppa of circular form with central foot, marked for the de Texada period circa 1774 see Bologana, A, A., (1995) The Silver of Malta. Malta: MAG Publications, p.109, f.301.

Estimated at £600 - £800

 

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