The pair of silver gilt dishes to be considered in this article (Figure 1) were used for many years as rosewater dishes in Hall, being passed around between diner to diner at the end of formal meals for a symbolic washing of hands. It could well have been the intention of the donor, Mrs Hansell, that they should be used for this purpose, when she gave the dishes to the Inn in 1926.
As with many pieces of antique silver found in The Inner Temple collection, the dishes reveal factual information from which some conclusions can be drawn. The heavy silver gilt pair bear the maker’s mark of William Pitts (WP in an oval) and the London hallmarks (Figure 2) with the date letter S for 1813–14 stamped under the bases. Unlike today, when the date letter changes at the start of the year, at the time that the dishes were made the date letter changed in May near St Dunstan’s Day, so they could have been made in either 1813 or 1814 (in fact, to be totally accurate, originally it was St Dunstan’s Day [19 May] that the Court of the Goldsmiths’ Company met to make the mark changes until the Restoration [1660], when it became the 29 May; this continued until 1975 when the date of changes conformed to the annual calendar on 1 January).
Unlike today, when the date letter changes at the start of the year, at the time that the dishes were made the date letter changed in May near St Dunstan’s Day, so they could have been made in either 1813 or 1814.
William Pitts was a member of the very talented family of silversmiths, chasers and model makers who worked both independently and in conjunction with Royal Goldsmiths and Jewellers, Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, and the renowned silversmith Paul Storr. Chasing work is evident in the dishes described as having scalloped edges that are decorated with spiral fluting alternating with various kinds of shells in relief, their diameter is 10.3/4 inches and the pair weigh 66.6 troy ounces.
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It is the engraving of two badges on the dish fronts in their wells that reveals the royal association (Figure 3). On the left is the monogrammed initials “CR” beneath a crown and on the right is a ducal garter badge. At the time the dishes were made, the royal family’s affairs were conducted under a joint Regency of George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, and their eldest son, who became George IV – therefore, we have the initials for the Queen, Charlotte Regina, and the badge of the Prince of Wales.
As part of the research into this article I have consulted my copy of E Alfred Jones’s very fine catalogue of The Gold and Silver of Windsor Castle, published in 1911. Page 217 has an entry, Twelve Circular Fruit Dishes, Silver Gilt, where eight of the dishes are described as for the above dishes with the London date letter for 1812–13 and the maker’s mark of WP in an oval shield for William Pitts, their diameter also being 10.1/2 inches. These dishes are recorded as being engraved only with the badge of George IV as the Prince of Wales but would seem to be en suite with the pair of Inner Temple dishes. There are other examples in the catalogue of silver gilt being engraved with joint badges of Queen Charlotte and the Prince of Wales.
So, what might have happened to the dishes and why were they not catalogued at Windsor in 1911? They might well have been in the household property of the Queen when she died on 17 November 1818, having been the longest female Consort to a king of 57 years and having given birth to 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood. She died at Kew Palace and, on the day before her death, she dictated her will where the furnishings and fixtures at the royal residence at Frogmore, along with “live and dead stock … on the estates”, were bequeathed to her daughter Augusta Sophia along with the Frogmore property. The remainder of her assets, including her books, linen, art objects and china, were to be evenly divided among her surviving daughters. Finally, the residual property was sold at auction from May to August 1819, where her clothes, furniture, and even her snuff were sold by Christie’s.
From this wide distribution it seems impossible to say how the dishes came to be in the possession of Mrs Hansell. There are no dealer’s stock numbers scratched on the bases, so it is unlikely that they were retailed and were more likely to have been either acquired at auction or by inheritance, again HMS Queen Charlotte comes to mind as perhaps having a part to play in this story.
There are no dealer’s stock numbers scratched on the bases, so it is unlikely that they were retailed and were more likely to have been either acquired at auction or by inheritance.
Whatever the reasons, these dishes are most attractive, they exhibit fine craftsmanship, have a delightful colour of lemon gilding, have a good weight and a most interesting royal association. They also sit well in any display of fine silver having been publicly displayed in the exhibition of Historic Plate in the City of London in 1951.
Richard Parsons
Silversmith and Jeweller
