MARK OF WILLIAM CRIPPS, LONDON, 1749

The high quality casting and chasing of this cream jug is testament to the skill of the silversmith William Cripps and his use of the fashional Rococo style. The importance of William Cripps as a member of the "Lamerie Group" was examined by Christopher Hartop in The Huguenot Legacy, Boston, 1996, p. 52. In 1742 Cripps took over premises which had previously been occupied by Christian Hillan, next door to Nicholas Sprimont in Compton Street, Soho, both leading rococo silversmiths, the latter was also the founder of the Chelsea porcelain factory. In 1746 Cripps moved a small distance to St. James's but the influence of these silversmiths continued for there is great similarity between work bearing Cripps' mark and that of de Lamerie, Henry Hayens, Philips Garden and others. We know that Cripps supplied Garden with finished silver, indeed Garden may have been a retailer and not a manufacturer at all. It may be that it was Cripps and not Garden, as is generally supposed, who purchased Paul de Lamerie's 'curious patterns and tools' at Mr. Langford's auction the year following Lamerie's death in 1751. Lamerie's last apprentice, Samuel Hodgson, joined Cripps's workshop after the former's death. An almost identical cream jug is in the collection of the Huntington Library, Pasadena, illustrated in R. Wark, British Silver in the Huntington Collection, 1978, no.143.