A large Leer silver tea kettle
Pear-form vessel with curved faceted spout, hinged lid and wooden handle. The domed slip lid with a baluster-form finial. Engraved on either side with the arms of alliance of the Dutch families Rekhals and Berenson and with the crowned monogram of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, with the Order of the Garter and the motto "HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE" above the spout and to the lid. Engraved with weight on the underside "W: 3 po 7 1/2 lot". H 26.5 cm, weight 1,403 g.
Marks of Hermann Huiser, c. 1720.
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1894 to 1895, a recipient of the prestigious Order of the Garter in 1892 and a member of the Privy Council of the British monarchy.
In 1878, he married Hannah Rothschild, the only daughter and heiress of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild - and the richest woman in the United Kingdom since her father's death. Among other properties, she also owned Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire.
According to written confirmation by Lady Jane Kaplan, a great-granddaughter of the 5th Earl of Rosebery, the kettle comes from his estate, but had its place not in Mentmore Castle, but in The Durdans, Rosebery's property near Epsom.
Provenance
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, after 1892; Ralf Schepers art dealership, Münster, 1998; Private collection, Baden-Württemberg.