A PAIR OF LATE GEORGE III SILVER GILT TWIN HANDLED CUPS PAUL STORR, LONDON 1817 Of antique Krater form, entwined vine form handles, chased with flowering hop vines on a matted ground, with bulbous fluted bases to the cups, on plain pedestal spreading bases 12.5cm (5in) high 941g (30.25 oz)Provenance: from the collection of Victoria, Lady de Rothschild Sale Christies, London, Early English & Foreign Silver and Silver-gilt Plate, Bijouterie and Objects of Art J Dunn-Gardner Esq, 29 April 1902 John Dunn-Gardner (1811-1903) was the illegitimate progeny of a scandalous and bigamous liaison between the wife of a prominent member of the aristocracy and a commoner. However, despite such an inauspicious beginning, he had a successful political career, and was to become a major landholder. In 1807, Sarah, the future 3rd Marchioness Townshend (d. 1858), née Dunn-Gardner, only surviving daughter and heiress of William Dunn-Gardner of Chatteris House, Cambridgeshire, had married George Ferrars Townshend, Earl of Leicester, later 3rd Marquess Townshend (1778-1855) of Raynham Hall, Norfolk. A year later, she left the marital home accusing her husband of being impotent and having had a homosexual relationship with his Italian secretary. In an attempt to have the marriage dissolved, Sarah unsuccessfully sued for an annulment in the ecclesiastical courts. In 1809, she eloped to Gretna Green with John Margetts, a St. Ives brewer, who she bigamously married. Lord Leicester was disinherited by his father, the 2nd Marquess, for bringing shame on the family name, and moved abroad - although the disinheritance would not affect the descent of the peerage. Sarah went on to have several illegitimate children with Margetts, all of whom in the early years bore the Margetts name; John (eventually Dunn-Gardner) was the eldest son. In 1823, as Sarah's legal marriage had never been annulled, and by law, the children she had borne Margetts were considered the issue of Lord Townshend and thus could inherit the estates and titles, she had her children baptised with the surname Townshend. John (Dunn-Gardner) became 'John Townshend', and inherited the courtesy title Earl of Leicester. In 1841, he became Member of Parliament for Bodmin. In 1842, Lord Charles Townshend (1785-1853), George Ferrars' brother, and heir if there were no legitimate sons, petitioned Parliament to have Sarah's children de-legitimised, and in 1843, they were all declared illegitimate by a private Act of Parliament. 'John Townshend' took his mother's maiden name and became John Dunn-Gardner. In 1859, John Dunn Gardner became High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, and was one of the largest landowners in Cambridgeshire. He was known for his magnificent collection of important early English silver and objects of art, which he had loaned on exhibition to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This collection was dispersed at Christie's on 29th April 1902, with The New York Times reporting on 4th May 1902: 'The sensational prices realised at the auctions of art objects, books, pictures, furniture and old silver in London this week easily eclipsed all records. The dispersal of the celebrated Dunn-Gardner Collection of old silver attracted buyers from all parts'. See sale Sotheby's 27th April 2010, lot 282 for a conforming pair of 1819.Condition Report: Light scratches and wear commensurate with age and light use. Minimal wear to gilding: a touch on a few leaves to sides, light wear to handles and to footrims as expected. Marks all crisp, sit wellCondition Report Disclaimer
