A silver gilt travel lavabo set made for Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay
Comprising a pitcher and basin. Presumably designed for a piece of travel furniture or for use in a carriage. The cuboid basin with a smooth outer surface and two angular handles on the long sides which can be concealed within the body. The pitcher on a shallow basal ring, the moulded rim slightly pinched to form the spout. The separately attached auricular handle with a thumb rest engraved with the monogram “S” beneath a British baronial crown. Emblazoned on either side and in the well of the basin with the crowned arms of Charles Stuart, Baron Stuart de Rothesay with the British Order of the Bath and the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword. H of basin without handles 11.1; L 43; W 25.8 cm. H of pitcher 20 cm. Total weight 2,702 g.
Paris, marks of Pierre-Noël Blaquière, 1819 – 38.
Charles Stuart (1779 - 1845) came from a collateral line of the House of Stuart, descended from the Scottish King Robert II. Son of a British general and grandson of a prime minister under King George III, he entered the diplomatic service soon after completing his studies at Oxford and Glasgow - with stays in Vienna, St. Petersburg, Portugal and French-occupied Spain. From 1815 - 24 and again from 1828 - 30, he served as British ambassador in Paris. The lavabo set probably came into his possession during his second stay there, for it was not until 1828 that Stuart was raised to the rank of Baron of Rothesay - and the engraved coat-of-arms already bears the Baron's Crown and the collars of the two British orders of chivalry. He was named a Knight Commander in 1812 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, one of the most prestigious British orders of chivalry, in 1815. He was made an officer of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword with the honorary title of Conde de Macchio for his services in negotiating the recognition of Brazil's independence by Portugal in 1825.
Pierre-Noël Blaquière was responsible for the gold and silver mounts at the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory from 1811 onwards, and in 1816 produced, among other things, the wedding service for the Duc de Berry. Together with his workshop in the Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, as of 1828 he increasingly focused on the production of precious vermeil travel and toiletry services for the nobility, many of which have survived, such as the set for Countess Branicka, now in the collection of the Wilanów Palace Museum in Warsaw.
Provenance
Baron Stuart de Rothesay (1779 - 1845), Henri Bonninière de Beaumont Collection (1923 - 2005).
Literature
On Blaquière cf. Catalogue de l'Orfèvrerie du XVIIe, du XVIIIe et du XIXe Siècle, Editions des Musées Nationaux, Paris 1958, p. 204, and Tenenbaum, La Collection du Musée du Louvre - Orfèvrerie du XIXème, Paris 2011.