Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

A set of four George III silver-gilt salt cellars,
by William Pitts, London 1783,
navette form, the sides applied with rams' masks, engraved with floral garlands, applied oval vignettes to the sides, one of a horse and lion and the other of two recumbent lions, on four acanthus leaf-capped scroll feet, with unmarked gilt liners, length 14.2cm, total approx. weighable 29.8oz. (4)

Provenance: The Personal Collection of the late Michael and Margaret Susands.

One of the applied vignettes is after one of George Stubb's Horse and Lion, paintings, a series that he did in 1770. The horse and lion compositions normally suggest the struggles of good against evil and how in some cases good doesn't always triumph over evil. The other vignette appears to be after one of Paul Reubens's Study of Lions series, in which Reubens shows off his precision of the anatomical study of lions, giving a sense of the regal authority and power they give off even in recumbent positions.
For a similar set see: Christie's London, Important Silver, 12 June 2006, Lot 105.

To be sold without reserve.