Images(5)

Dish

Date1731-1732

Maker Elizabeth Buteux (ca. 1700 - 1771)

OriginEngland, London

MediumSilver

DimensionsOverall: 1 3/8 × 10in. (3.5 × 25.4cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2020-8

DescriptionSilver dish: Shallow circular dish with scalloped and fluted rim divided into twenty-four sections.
Label TextElizabeth Pantin Buteux Godfrey (born circa 1700–died 1771) was one of the most successful female silversmiths in eighteenth-century England, serving as the proprietress of her shop—the Hand, Ring, & Crown on Norris Street in London—for forty years. As the daughter of the prominent Huguenot silversmith Simon Pantin, she was knowledgeable and well-connected in the craft. Before the age of thirty-five, she was married twice to men who eventually registered marks and entered the trade: Abraham Buteux and, after his death, Benjamin Godfrey. Outliving both of her husbands, she registered marks in her own name, first as Elizabeth Buteux and later as Elizabeth Godfrey.

Because she worked for less than twelve months as the widow of Abraham Buteux, silver marked by Elizabeth Buteux is rare today. Among the few examples of silver bearing her touch and the date letter for 1731-32 are this dish and a sauceboat. A coffeepot, footed salver, and three candlesticks marked with the date letter for 1732-33 are also known. This fluted serving dish survives from that brief period as a testament to the quality of her shop’s work and to the patronage she enjoyed from members of English aristocracy throughout her lengthy career.

InscribedEngraved in center of dish with the coat of arms of Milbanke impaling Delaval for Sir Ralph Milbanke (1708-1748), 4th Baronet of Halnbay, Yorkshire, and his second wife Anne (died 21 March 1765), daughter of Edward Delaval, of South Dissington, Northumberland. Also engraved on back of dish with weight 21=11=12
MarkingsMarked in relief on back: 1) lion passant; 2) maker's mark EB in quatrefoil with an upside-down horseshoe above and an asterisk below [Grimwade 1990, #534]; 3) a leopard's head crowned; and 4) the date letter Q for 1731-32

ProvenanceSir Ralph Milbanke (1708-1748), 4th Baronet of Halnbay, Yorkshire, and his second wife Anne (died 21 March 1765), daughter of Edward Delaval, of South Dissington, Northumberland