The team at Wick Antiques is busily working towards our 7th annual catalogue, part of a series which we have named Britain on the High Seas. This latest edition, due in the summer, will be subtitled Rank and File and, as ever, will feature a fascinating cross-section of our stock including many newly purchased items that reflect all of the various interests of the firm. It seems appropriate at this stage, therefore, to look back on previous catalogues and we have made a selection of pieces featured in these past publications which have stood out to one or other of us in some way. These items come from many different categories and many different price points, the common feature being that in some way or another they have been particularly interesting or our work has illuminated parts of their history which had been lost for example.
A Plaster Portrait Bust of Lord Nelson After Anne Seymour Damer
This fine bust featured on the cover of our From Nelson to Churchill catalogue and we have selected it for this list as it is a perfect demonstration of the sort of work we do when researching an acquisition and attempting to establish more information about the pieces that we buy. An impressed mark on the back of the piece reads ‘Anna S. Damer Fecit’ so the authorship of the original model was never in doubt. Anne Seymour Damer (1748-1828) was a sculptor and author who later inherited Strawberry Hill, Horace Walpole’s famed Gothic villa in Twickenham. A friend of Sir William and Lady Hamilton, she probably met Nelson in Naples in 1798, afterwards offering a bust of the Hero to the City of London. On his return to London in 1800, Nelson gave Damer a sitting during which he presented her with his uniform coat worn at the Battle of the Nile. What our research uncovered, however, was the links between Damer and the plaster figure maker Bartholomew Papera (c.1749-1815). A newspaper advert placed in the Oracle and Daily Advertiser, 11th of December 1805, allowed us to attribute our plaster bust to Papera and is reproduced below.
The advert revealed additional details about the Damer bust being the only sculpture of Nelson produced from an official sitting and made it clear that Papera must have been selling his plaster versions with Damer’s consent.
Although Damer’s monumental bust in marble was only delivered to the City in 1803, artist authorised copies in plaster, probably by the plaster figure maker Bartholomew Papera (c.1749-1815), were already circulating. Damer presented Napoleon Bonaparte in person with an example in plaster on her visit to Paris in 1802, whilst another reached the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. The Wedgwood factory purchased a plaster copy of Damer’s bust from Papera in 1802 (for 12 shillings), possibly for an unrealised scheme to reproduce it in basalt pottery as a companion to their popular portrait medallion of the admiral.
The Papera family of plaster figure makers enjoyed considerable acclaim in London and their clientele was an exceptional one. The National Portrait Gallery’s list of bronze founders and plaster figure makers contains an extended biography of the family. Amongst their clients were aristocrats like Lord Delaval, Lord Harcourt and Lord Egremont and the Duke of Richmond, actresses such as Sarah Siddons and even “Mr Chippendall”-likely to be Thomas Chippendale the Younger. As “Figure maker to Her Majesty” from 1795 onwards, Papera also had connections to the Royal family as well as to the London artists of the day to whom Papera both supplied casts and and took casts from their own works. He is mentioned in the biography of Joseph Nollekens and he was also known to hire out casts to artists on a fee paying basis. Papera also had links with the gem engraver Nathaniel Marchant and with Josiah Wedgwood as mentioned earlier, placing him right at the heart of the artistic movement in England at this time.
This fine bust is now sold.
Wilson Chilton’s Naval Architect’s/Draughtsman’s Box of Curves
Featured in our Wars and Wealth catalogue, this remarkable box is still available and viewable on our website here
https://wickantiques.co.uk/product/wilson-chiltons-mahogany-shipwrights-case-probably-by-gillows/
Sets of curves of this sort are fairly rare survivors, but signed examples owned by a known figure in the maritime industry are extremely unusual. Our research was able to put together something of a timeline relating to Chilton and his work, examples of which include:
Wilson Chilton, son of Richard Chilton and Elizabeth Wilson, born 24/12/1797 baptised 01/07/1798 in Bishop Wearmouth Co. Durham ( Sunderland south of the Wear). A directory of 1827 gives the address of 2 Low Street, Sunderland, on the Bishop Wearmouth shore.
1829 – 1840 Wilson Chilton appears to have had a shipyard in Sunderland. He was obviously an important name in the industry and clearly would become a serious player in the area as a ship builder.
June 1828 He was one of ten partners in Leithead & Co. Shipbuilders. The London Gazette records the partnership as being dissolved.
24 December 1829 Chilton married Isabel(la) Kirton.
1841 A census described him as a shipbuilder living in Brougham Street, Bishop Wearmouth with his wife, two sons ,Wilson Jr and William, a daughter, his widowed mother, and his parents. He may well have owned property in that street.
4th July 1833. Wilson Chilton with six others formed a new company trading as Wilson Chilton & Co. This in turn was dissolved on
27th of April 1838. A new William Chilton & Co. was formed with three other partners and was later dissolved.
1851 was recorded as shipbuilder and employing 6 hands and 9 apprentices. A third son, Thomas was born, and his oldest son became an apprentice presumably under his father, his address was 50 Brougham Street, where he remained for the rest of his life.
1861, age 63 bankrupt and appears to be employed as a foreman shipwright. At that time his eldest son, Wilson Jr, was partner in a shipbuilding firm called Spowers and Co., which was dissolved 16/12/1868, and from which a new Wilson Chilton & Co. was formed.
Wilson Chilton Snr was not listed as having any occupation in 1871 and then in 1881 he is described as a landlord and is living at 50 Brougham Street owned by his son Thomas.
1881 25th of September Wilson Chilton died. Probate was granted to his four children and his personal estate was £10. He had probably conveyed property to his children.
1911 Willian Jr his son died as a working shipwright.
We were also able to trace several ships that were launched from Chilton’s various yards and, as a result of this box being published on our website, had contact with present day relatives of Chilton who were able to add more information to what we had already gleaned from the sources we consulted. This fascinating box is an extraordinary piece of maritime and social history and was a fascinating research project as well.
An Outstanding and Important Regency Writing Table Attributed to the Jamar Family
Also in our Wars and Wealth catalogue is an extraordinary regency period writing table, attributed to the Jamar family of Belgian emigre cabinetmakers resident in England. This table, which is also still available for sale, is truly one of the great pieces of regency furniture currently available for sale anywhere in the world.
https://wickantiques.co.uk/product/an-outstanding-and-important-regency-writing-table-by-william-jamar/
The quality of the piece alone qualifies it for inclusion in our highlights here but there is so much more about this table which is also fascinating. It was in the collection of Lord Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington, who, as one of the younger sons in the family had not been expected to inherit the title. He lived largely at 11 Titchfield St, London, and was one of a small number of pioneering collectors of regency furniture and works of art in the early 20th century, his collecting being featured in an article in Country Life magazine. He bought from sales such as that at Deepdene (the home of the great Regency collector and designer Thomas Hope) and acquired many pieces of exceptional quality directly from the families for which they were made. This table was later acquired by Temple Williams, regarded along with H. Blairman as probably the leading dealer in regency furniture at the time. It also featured in Country Life in an advertisement for that firm and was published in one of the seminal reference books on regency furniture, M. Jourdain and R. Fastnedge’s Regency Furniture 1795-1830, London, 1965 p.77 fig. 179.
Lord Gerald Wellesley, 7th Duke of Wellington (1885-1972) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat (1908-1919) who served as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Grenadier Guards during World War II and then became an architect. His collection at 11 Titchfield Street was one of the first major regency furniture collections in Britain. In 1947, he gave Apsley House and its important contents (the Wellington Collection) to the nation with the proviso that he and his family were able to occupy a large portion of it. He married Dorothy Violet Ashton in 1914, daughter of Robert Ashton of Croughton.
The Royal Yacht Squadron’s King’s Cup, Presented by King William IV in 1835
One of the most extraordinary pieces of silver which we have been privileged enough to handle over the past few years featured in our catalogue Trafalgar, Trophies and Trade and is now sold.
This outstanding piece of silver gilt was made by the royal silversmiths Rundell, Bridge and Co. in 1835. From the presentation inscription on the piece we knew that it had been given to the Royal Yacht Squadron: ‘The Gift of His Most Gracious Majesty William the Fourth to the Royal Yacht Squadron, 1835’. However we did not know the precise use of the piece and why it had been given to the Squadron. Our research in the newspaper archives uncovered the answer to that mystery. A reference in Bell’s Life in London and Sporting Chronicle from the 9th of August 1835 stated:
‘His Majesty presented the R.Y.S. with his customary splendid silver gilt bowl, value 100gs, manufactured by Messrs. Rundell Bridge and Co. with great taste, which will be contested for on His Majesty’s birthday, the 21st inst., and is expected to be a very interesting race, from the well-known qualities of the yachts that have entered’.
The race itself was indeed an exciting one and was won by the Irishman John Smith-Barry of Fota House in Co. Cork. An account from the sporting magazine dated august 24th 1835 of the ‘Cowes Regatta’ describes.
“The beautiful King’s cup was won by Mr Smith Barry’s Columbine beating The Corsair, The Fanny and The Albatross. The vessels that contended were from 90 to 70 tons and all were built by Mr Ratsey. His most gracious majesty’s beautiful cup will for the first time find its way to the sister isle, and grace the sideboard of the hospitable and liberal proprietor of Cove Island in Cork Harbour”.
The Cup itself is a wonderful piece of sculptural silver, made by the highly talented silversmith William Bateman for Rundells and marked according to the base. Trophies relating to the activities of the Royal Yacht Squadron are very rare on the open market and this is a further indication of the item’s importance.
The Earl of Yarborough, later first commodore of the club, welcomed the Prince Regent as a member in 1817 and in 1820, when the Prince Regent became George IV, it was renamed the Royal Yacht Club. However, King William IV could be considered the first Admiral of the Royal Yacht Squadron as it was he who renamed the club in 1833, and he constituted himself its head. Its association with the Royal Navy began early and Nelson’s captain at Trafalgar, Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, headed the list of naval members. In 1829 the Admiralty issued a warrant to wear what is now the navy’s White Ensign.
King William IV earned the nickname “the sailor King” having served in the Royal Navy in the Caribbean and North America as a young man. His passion for the sea served him well when in 1827 he was appointed as Lord High Admiral-the first time the post had been revived since 1709.
During his time in the navy, William is believed to have had a strikingly similar experience to those of more “average” sailors with the exception of the fact that he had a personal tutor with him on the ships on which he served as a very young man. His service record included being present during the battle of Cape Vincent and he rose to the rank of lieutenant by 1785 and then was appointed captain of H M S Pegasus in 1786.
So similar was his experience of naval life to that of his shipmates that he was even arrested as part of a drunken brawl in Gibraltar-though it is stated that he was quickly released when his identity became clear to those prosecuting the case.
During his time in the navy, William caught the attention of no less than Admiral Nelson who stated:
“In his professional line, he is superior to two-thirds, I am sure, of the [Naval] list; and in attention to orders, and respect to his superior officer, I hardly know his equal.”
He became a great personal friend of Nelson’s, giving away the bride at Nelson’s wedding. His naval career ended with his having been given a captaincy on the H M S Andromeda in 1788 and then raised to the rank of rear-admiral when commanding H M S Valiant in 1789.
The cup is a wonderful piece of silver, a piece of Royal memorabilia of the highest quality and a maritime collectable of the most sought-after type. It is, in short, a true masterpiece and, appropriately, featured prominently on our stand at the Masterpiece Fair that year.
Joseph Newington Carter: The Loss of the Scarborough Lifeboat Amelia
We conclude this selection of pieces with a fine watercolour by the well-known artist Joseph Newington Carter, executed in 1865. This piece, which featured in our Heroic Endeavour catalogue is still available and can be viewed on our website here
https://wickantiques.co.uk/product/joseph-newington-carter-the-loss-of-the-scarborough-lifeboat-amelia-1865/
Signed and dated J. N. Carter, 1865, Torquay, the authorship of the piece was never in doubt but plenty of additional research was necessary to establish the subject of the piece. Having identified the seaside buildings as being from Scarborough, we were then able to piece together the fascinating and tragic story of the loss of the lifeboat Amelia there in 1861. This fine piece is so evocative of the extraordinary dangers faced by lifeboat volunteers at this time, struggling against the elements in a battle to save lives. The boat had been launched in an attempt to save the crew of the schooner Coupland, visible in the background, and this was the maiden voyage of the lifeboat. Two of those in the lifeboat lost their lives as did three men on shore who attempted to aid in the rescue. This event was a seminal one in the development of lifeboat services, 6 RNLI medals and 8 medals for gallantry being awarded as part of the events of that day. The tragedy also galvanised fundraising for lifeboat services and undoubtedly the brave men who lost their lives that day achieved something significant in return for their great sacrifice.
Joseph Newington Carter (1835-1871) was influenced by J. M. W. Turner and is known predominantly for his dramatic and compelling seascapes in oil and watercolour. His father, Henry Barlow Carter, was a seascape painter who exhibited several times at the Royal Academy and ran a drawing school in Scarborough. Henry Vandyke Carter, Joseph’s elder brother, illustrated editions of ‘Gray’s Anatomy’. Joseph was a pupil of and exhibited at the Royal Academy where his reputation was considerably enhanced when the Prince of Wales purchased two of his marine landscapes. He joined his family when they moved to Torquay in 1862, five years after the death of his mother, but his promising career was cut short when he died aged 36.
We hope that this little survey of pieces will inspire you to consider adding one of those still available to your collection and we would be delighted to discuss any of them with you in further detail. In addition, we hope that this whets the appetite for our forthcoming 7th instalment of our series of catalogues and hope that there will be plenty more highlights to come.
Wick Antiques was established by Charles Wallrock in the early 1980s. Having grown up in the Antiques world Charles developed an extensive wealth of knowledge.
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