Beschreibung:

George II Sterling Silver Cake Basket Paul de Lamerie London, 1742 Oval on four mask feet, the body pierced and engraved with foliate scrolls and wheat sheafs, the rim applied with reeded band and masks, the later pierced handle cast with flowers and scrolls. Length 13 3/4 inches (35 cm.), approximately 49 ounces. Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751) was the Huguenot silversmith widely regarded as the finest to ever work in an industry crowded with talent. It was de Lamerie who introduced his wealthy clientele to the Rococo style, a fashion trend that had already swept France. This cake basket is a superb example of de Lamerie's finest work. The feet and rim are decorated with richly cast figural and lion masks giving an aire of whimsy to the piece. The body is pierced and engraved with sheafs of wheat giving a hint to the contents of such baskets used at fashionable dining tables. The cake basket was introduced by de Lamerie to London society in the 1730s and this style with "wild-mask" feet was used from 1738 to 1744. A basket of this design also dated 1742 but with the original figural handle was in the collection of Jaime Ortiz Patino sold at Sotheby's New York, April 22, 1998, for $662,500. A further example dated 1741 is in the collection of Paul Cahn and illustrated in Beyond the Maker's Mark: Paul de Lamerie Silver in the Cahn Collection, fig. 34, pp. 97-98. Cake baskets by Paul de Lamerie are currently found in many great public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute among others. C Property from a Prominent Philadelphia Family