Two-handled covered cup

Date1715-1716

Maker Benjamin Bentley

Maker Robert Timbrell

MediumSilver (Britannia)

DimensionsOH: 10 5/8"; H.(rim): 7"; OW: 10 13/32"; Diam.(cover) approx.: 6 5/16"; Diam.(rim) approx.: 5 7/8"; Diam.(base): 4 13/16".

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1942-37,A&B

DescriptionTwo-handled cup and cover, cast finial (replacement of leaves and grapes of inverted cone-form surmounting tall double-domed cover with flanged rim with plain edge; bezel of cover fits within rim of body; large inverted bell-form body with single molding at rim and drawn tripartite mid-band applied between upper and lower handle joins; cast scroll handles of basically D-shaped section with leaf grips and bud terminals soldered to body below rim and to lower section of body on opposing sides; concave section to broad circular domed base. Scroll and floral repousse decoration added to cover, body, and base, and chased decoration added to face of handles. Coat of arms of five mullets on a cross engraved on face of body and crest of an antelope's head facing left holding a stick-like member in his mouth engraved both on face of body opposite arms and on face of cover. Both arms and crests were added when the piece was decorated in the nineteenth century and belong to the Randolph family of Virginia.
Label TextThis cup was originally severely plain. It received its profusion of repousse decoration in the rococo taste, as well as compatible flat-chased decoration on the face of the handles, a new finial, and engraved armorials, in the nineteenth century. This was accomplished before 1857, for it is described as "my large ornamented silver Cup or Goblet, with the Cover. . . bearing the Randolph coat of arms" in the will of Peter Vivian Daniel of that year. Even though this cup has been greatly altered, it remains important as one of the few surviving pieces of silver with a documented history of ownership in Williamsburg in the eighteenth century. Listed as "the Silver Cup" in the 1780 will of Betty Randolph of Williamsburg, it was presumably owned by Peyton Randolph, her husband, whom she survived. The earlier history of the cup, however, is less certain. This is probably "the great silver cup" that Beverley Randolph, Peyton's older brother, was bequeathed in a 1736 codicil to the will of their father, Sir John Randolph. Unfortunately, the will and inventory of Beverley Randolph, about whom little is known, have not survived. This cup was acquired with two salvers (accession 1945-16, 1-2) and an unmarked punch ladle of probable American origin.
InscribedArms and crest of the Randolph family of Virginia engraved on opposite sides of body, with crest repeated on cover, added with decoration in the nineteenth century
MarkingsBritannia standard. Maker's mark "TB" with "i" above and "e" below in black letters within a quatrefoil, lion's head erased, Britannia, and date letter both on face of body below rim and on bezel of cover.
ProvenancePropably Sir John Randolph (1693-1737) and his wife, Susannah Beverley; probably their son, Beverley Randolph (ca. 1720-after 1756), and his wife, Agatha Wormeley; his brother, Peyton Randolph (ca. 1721-1775), and his wife, Betty Harrison (ca. 1723-1783); their nephew, Edmund Randolph (1753-1812), and his wife, Elizabeth Nicholas (1753-1810); their daughter, Lucy Randolph (1790-1847), and her husband, Peter Vivian Daniel (1784-1860); their daughter, Elizabeth Randolph Daniel (1810-1879); her niece, Lucy Randolph Moncure (b. 1861), and her husband, William Grymes; their son, William Randolph Grymes (b. 1899), and his wife (sold by them through Young's Art Shop, Richmond, Virginia, 1942). Acquired by CWF in 1942.