S65: Two-handled cup and cover

Urn-shaped cup and cover. The body chased and embossed with scrolls and foliage above a central band. With a festoon of goats' skins below and cut-card work around the base. The foot is embossed and chased with masks and scale-pattern reserves. The 'flying' handles are cast in the form of male and female  satyrs. The domed lid is embossed and chased and surmounted by a naturalistically modelled orange.

This monumental cup and cover encapsulates the quality and style of London-made silver in the 1730s. This is evident in the rich texture of the surfaces, the exceptionally fine modelling, casting and chasing, and the lively treatment of the subject.

Features of the developing Rococo style can be seen in the animation of the Bacchanalian figures which serve as handles, the rock and shellwork and aquatic creatures decorating the dome of the lid, and the scrolling, naturalistic engraving on the body of the cup. The silversmith Charles Frederick Kandler took over Charles Kandler's workshop in 1735. The precise relationship between the two men is unknown and for many years it was thought that they were the same person. Charles Kandler is thought to have come from Dresden. His workshop was responsible for some of the finest silver made in London during the 1720 and 1730s.