George II Silver Milk Jug

Object Number: 364

London 1734/5
Sarah Holaday

City’s hallmark: Crowned Lion’s head for London (Jackson 1921: 85)
Sterling mark: Lion passant (Jackson 1921: 85)
Maker’s mark: Monogram “HS” between a flower and a bird in a rhombic shield for Sarah Holaday (Grimwade3 1990, No. 2529)
Date letter: “T” in a pointy shield for 1734/5 (Jackson 1921: 85)

Height: 3,7 in. (9,5 cm); weight: 200 g.

Pictures

Detailed Information

George II Silver Milk Jug

The small, pear-shaped milk jug stands on a round, profiled, cast pedestal foot and has a lively curved rim with a wide spout. The cast handle is made from two c-shapes and beautifully decorated with a leaf at the thump rest.

Milk vessels were an important part of the tea ceremonial and tea services in the early eighteenth century. Especially during the period of George II they were in high fashion. During tea-drinking, a well-situated family could stage both social rank and wealth through the use of precious, silver accessories (e.g. the painting “A Family of Three at Tea”, probably by Richard Collins, Victoria & Albert Museum).

Maker

Sarah Holaday was presumably the widow of the silversmith Edward Holaday. She used two different marks and her work is of high quality (Grimwade3 1990: 549).

Literature

Grimwade, Ar., 1990, London Goldsmiths 1697-1837. Their marks and lives from the original registers at Goldsmiths’ Hall and other sources, GB: Faber and Faber [Grimwade3]
Gruber, Al., 1982, Gebrauchssilber des 16. bis 19. Jahrhunderts, Würzburg: Edition Popp
Jackson, Ch. J., 1911, An illustrated History of English Plate, ecclesiastical and secular in which the development of form and decoration in the Silver and Gold Work of the British Isles form the earliest known examples to the latest of the Georgian Period, Bd. II, Plauen i. Vogtl.: C.F. Schulz & Co.
Jackson, Ch., J., 1921, English Goldsmiths and their marks, London: MacMillan and Co. Limited
Schroder, T., 1988, English Domestic Silver, 1500-1900, London: Viking/The National Trust
Pedestal foot