Images(3)

Chamber Pot

Date1743-1744

Marked by David Willaume II (1692 - 1761)

OriginEngland, London

MediumSilver (Sterling)

DimensionsOH: 5"; OW: 10 3/8"; Diam.: 7 9/16" Inscribed weights: "34-6"(169); "34-7"(170). Present weights: 33 oz. 19 dwt. 11 gr. (169); 33 oz. 19 dwt. 19 1/2 gr.(170).

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Prock

Object number1965-169

DescriptionChamber pot: flared rim with molded edge on globular body of squat proportions; cast S-scroll handle with paneled handle face and scroll terminal or tip; handle attached to body under rim at upper join and with a plain circular disk at lower join. Cypher GG with an earl's coronet above engraved on face of body probably for George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (d. 1816).
Label TextSilver chamber pots are known to have been used in England from the reign of Elizabeth I. In fact, an early English reference appears in her Household Books for 1576-80 as "A round basin and Ewer Wth a piss-pot of silvr weighg 57 Oz. paid for the weight 5s pr Oz and 6d an Oz. for the fashion." Their use, at least in court circles, was sufficient for John Marston, the satiric poet, to write in 1598 in his Scourge of Villanie:

When Hermus makes a worthy question,
Whether of Wright, as Paraphonalion,
A silver pispot fits his Lady dame?
Or i'st too good? a pewter best became. 1.

The earliest extant English example is that of 1670/71 by Marmaduke Best of York, which was presented to the city of York for the use of the lord mayors and is still part of the corporate plate. It differs little in form from this and other surviving ones. Even though they had become a standard article of domestic plate by the early eighteenth century and were often included in the issue of plate to ambassadors and other high government officials, most have been consigned to the melting pot. No fewer than eleven silver chamber pots, however, were contained in the Grey sale of 1921, including this well-made example and one of 1714/15 by Isaac Liger of London, engraved with the arms of George Booth, 2nd earl of Warrington. Lord Botetourt, penultimate royal governor of Virginia, owned a silver chamber pot, listed with the "Plate, in the Pantry" of the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg in the 1770 inventory of his estate.

1. Penzer, ''The Silver Chamber-pot; Part I," p. 176.

InscribedCypher and coronet of George Booth (1675-1758), 2nd earl of Warrington, engraved on body opposite handle.
Inscribed weights: "34-6"; "34-7"
MarkingsMarked in relief 1) leopard's head crowned, 2) date letter, lower-case block h in relief, for 1743-44, 3) lion passant, and 4) sponsor's mark DW in script with mullet above and below within a cartouche, on underside of base.
ProvenanceDescended from George Booth (1675-1758), 2nd earl of Warrington, the original owner, to Catherine, Lady Grey and Sir John Foley Grey of Enville Hall, Stombridge (sold at Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 1921; purchased by Crichton Bros., London); Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 1937 (purchased by Hyman, London); gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Prock, Fort Washington, Pennsylvania to CWF in 1965.