OF JACOBITE INTEREST: A RARE, FINE AND LARGE GEORGE II PEWTE...

Hammer

£7,600

OF JACOBITE INTEREST: A RARE, FINE AND LARGE GEORGE II PEWTER STRAWBERRY DISH, CIRCA 1740-47. Having a narrow eighteen lobed wavy-edge rim with triple reed and small embossed domes relating to the eighteen flutes in the deep booge, the flat well engraved with a ducal coronet and the arms of FRASER, touchmark of Thomas Chamberlain, London (fl.1732-1775), (PS1603), on rear of well, overall diameter 29.3cm (11¾in), rim width 1.7cm (¾in) The arms are Quarterly, first and fourth, azure three fraises argent; second and third, argent three antique crowns gules, beneath a Duke's coronet. They refer to Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat (1667-1747), who was created Duke of Fraser, Marquess of Beaufort, Earl of Stratherrick and Upper Tarf, Viscount of the Aird and Strathglass and Lord Lovat and Beaulieu in the Jacobite Peerage of Scotland by James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1766), in his soi-disant capacity as the rightful James III of England and VIII of Scotland. These titles were not recognised in English, Scots or Irish law, but the titles were used in Jacobite circles in Continental Europe and recognised by France, Spain and the Papacy. The ducal coronet helps to date the dish precisely to between 1740 and 1747, when Simon Fraser was executed. His coffin plate is also engraved with these arms beneath a Duke's coronet, rather than a Baron's. It is extremely rare to find a title granted in the Jacobite peerage on a pewter plate. Nicknamed 'the Fox', Simon Fraser had a tumultuous career. A Scottish Jacobite and Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat, in 1715 he supported the House of Hanover during the Jacobite uprising following Queen Anne's death but, in 1745, was slow to support the royal cause against the claims of Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), and was amongst the Highlanders defeated at the Battle of Culloden. He was subsequently confined in the Tower of London, convicted of treason and executed by beheading (he narrowly escaped being hanged, drawn and quartered) on the 9th April 1747 Literature: The pair to this Lot (sold Bonhams, Oxford, 19 April 2021, Lot 136), is discussed and illustrated Journal of the Pewter Society, Vol. 18, Autumn 2002, pp. 38-39, which also references the very small number of other recorded examples. The author, John Douglas, concludes 'these fluted strawberry dishes are obviously very rare and to find one with such dramatic associations produces a thrill not often experienced'. Peter Hornsby in Pewter of the Western World 1600-1850 (1983), illustrates two of the recorded comparable strawberry dishes, p. 135, pl. 357 and 358 A garnish of wavy edge sadware of thirty-four pieces, by the same maker and bearing identical armorials is in the collection of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers. See Supplementary catalogue (1979), SI/113/1-34.