MARK OF JOHN SAMUEL HUNT, LONDON, 1845

Details

A Victorian silver ewer
Mark of John Samuel Hunt, London, 1845
Formed as a mermaid combing her long hair, a comb in one outstretched arm, a hand-mirror with floral and cherub and grotesque mask border in the other, her lower body cast and chased with fishscales, a pearl and pendant cartouche necklace on her neck, on a partly-fluted oval base with foliate terminal, the detachable tail-fin forming a cover, her breasts forming two pouring spouts, marked on base and cover
11 7/8in. (30cm.) high
25oz. (787gr.)

Provenance

The Executors of the Late Viscount Kemsley; Christie's London, 26 June 1974, lot 127

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

This unusual ewer takes its form from two known surviving Mannerist style mermaid ewers, each with matching shell basins, both of which date from the early years of the 17th century. The earlier example of 1610 is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and is discussed at length by P. Glanville in her Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England, London, 1990, cat. no.101. The second, of 1616, was sold from the collection of the late Viscount Kemsley at Christie's London, 26 June 1974, lot 126 and is now in the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio.

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