Images(4)

Plate, one from a set of eight

Date1755-1756

Artist/Maker Peter Archambo II & Peter Meure (active 1750-1768)

OriginEngland, London

MediumSilver (Sterling)

DimensionsD: 9 9/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1954-321,5

DescriptionPlate with rim valanced in five lobes; molded and gadrooned edge with acanthus leaf at junction of lobes. Engraved on rim amid foliate scrolls is cartouche-shaped escutcheon of a bend with 2 martlets and an escutcheon of pretense of 2 lions passant; (all except #4 have crescent mark of cadency for second son). On opposite side of rim is a crest of bird under crown.
Label TextSilver plates and dishes of wavy outline with cast and applied gadrooned rims enjoyed a long period of popularity from about 1730 until about 1820. Large eighteenth-century dinner services usually contained several dozen plates to permit the necessary removes and a considerable number of dishes for the various courses. The "2 dozn. Silver Plates" and "Six silver Dishes" in the 1703 inventory of the estate of William Fitzhugh of Stafford County and the "60 Plates" and "27 Dishes" listed with the "Plate, in the Pantry" of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg in the 1770 inventory of the estate of Lord Botetourt, are conspicuous references to the use of silver plates and dishes in Virginia. Botetourt's "27 Dishes" are further mentioned in a 1771 packing list as "15 Round Dishes" and "12 Oval Dishes."

A pair of similar plates of 1765/66 by Thomas Heming of London are also in the Colonial Williamsburg collection (accession 1954-562, 1-2), as well as a set of sixteen plates and two matching meat dishes in fused silverplate (accessions 1973-11 and 1973-12).
InscribedUnidentified arms and crest with coronet engraved on opposite sides of each rim.
MarkingsUnder rim: lion passant; date letter "U" for 1755-1756; crowned leopard's head; PA and PM in quatrefoil.
ProvenanceMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston
Acquired by CWF in 1954.