A George III silver plate from Admiral Lord Nelson's Copenhagen service

A George III silver plate from Admiral Lord Nelson's Copenhagen service,

by Timothy Renou, London 1801,

circular form, gadroon border, engraved with Nelson's armorial, diameter 25.2cm, approx. weight 18oz.

Provenance: purchased at the Christie's Bridport sale on 12 July 1895, by John Spink,(1827-1904), and then by direct descent to the present owner.

On the 2 April 1801, Lord Nelson was instrumental in another significant victory, this time over the Danish fleet at Copenhagen. The committee of Lloyds gifted a further £500 to augment his growing collection of plate. This was to compliment his Nile silver service, which was commissioned after a gift from Lloyds and made by Paul Storr, to celebrate his victory at the Battle of the Nile on the 1st August 1798.

When Nelson received the news of his second gift he immediately instructed one of his captains, Edward Parker, to write to Alexander Dawson asking him contact Rundell and Bridge in order to 'make what you think necessary to add to the rest, to make a complete set, such as plates or whatever you think right'. The order included six dozen gadrooned circular plates and eighteen soup plates. These were supplied by a number of London goldsmiths including Timothy Renou.

On Nelson's death his plate was extensively divided, however the bulk of the silver went to his brother, Earl Nelson, thereafter passing to the Bridport Family via the marriage of the earl's first daughter to the then Lord Bridport. At a celebrated auction in 1895, the Bridport family's Nelson relics were put on the open market, and dispersed.

Four of the plates were given to Lloyd's in 1936, six were presented to the National Maritime Museum in 1939 by The Revd. Hugh Nelson-Ward. Some are in the Walter and Turner Collection and the Greenwich Hospital Collection, some of which were presented by Spink

In 1919 twenty-three plates from the Copenhagen service were presented to the Royal Navy, and these were allocated to various Royal Naval Shore Establishments. One plate can be seen on show in the Nelson gallery in the Royal Naval Museum, situated just opposite HMS Victory, in her dry dock at the Portsmouth Naval base.

Reference Prentice, N., The Authentic Nelson, National Maritime Museum, 2005, page 121.

The arms are possibly those for Gabbett of Cahirline, co. Limerick or of Berranger of Normandy and Kerpaen of Brittany.