Salver, one of pair

Date1754-1755

Artist/Maker William Peaston

MediumSilver (Sterling)

DimensionsH: 1 1/8" Diam.: 8 1/2"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1945-16,2

DescriptionSalver, one of pair Silver; circular; cast scroll-and-shell rim applied to short inclined shaped sides; broad flat circular base forming tray supported on three case double-scroll legs terminating in abbreviated hoof feet. Engraved crest of an antelope's head facing left erased holding a stick-like member in its mouth on a wreath bar engraved on face of tray in center for Randolph family of Virginia
Label TextThese matching salvers and a two-handled covered cup (CWF accession 1942-37) are of importance as part of the few surviving pieces of silver with a documented history of ownership in Williamsburg in the eighteenth century. Peyton Randolph, one of Williamsburg's most illustrious citizens, originally owned them. He served as king's attorney for Virginia, speaker of the House of Burgesses, chairman of the Virginia committee of correspondence, and first president of the Continental Congress. They are listed as "2 Silver Waiters" in the 1780 will of his wife, Betty Randolph.

A similar salver of this conventional, shell-and scroll-edge type (7 1/4 inches in diameter) of 1752/53 by Dorothy Mills of London is also in the Colonial Williamsburg collection (accession 1953-803).
InscribedCrest of the Randolph family of Virginia engraved in the center of each.
MarkingsMaker's mark "WP" within a heart, leopard's head crowned, lion passant, and date letter "t" in lower case for 1754-1755 on underside of salver
ProvenancePeyton 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)