Of heavy gauge silver, the circular box having applied fluted columns
surrounding blank cartouches above a stepped reeded foot,
the underside with a later crest (a demi-lion rampant, holding in dexter paw a cross crosslet),
and scratchweight 6=8 1/2,
the domed cover applied with scroll-leaf capitals surrounding a baroque cartouche
engraved coat of arms of Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk, 1686-1777, and his wife Mary,
daughter and co-heiress of Edward Blount

(Please see heraldry and biographical notes in two starred * sections below)

These armorial bearings denote the marshalling of a marital coat showing on the dexter

(the heraldic right : on the left as you view the piece) the arms of the husband and on the sinister

(the heraldic left : on the right as you view it) the arms of the wife.

These arms may be blazoned as follows:

* Arms :
(on the dexter) Quarterly 1st Gules on a bend between six cross crosslets fitchy argent an escutcheon or

charged with a demi-lion rampant pierced through the mouth with an arrow gules

within the Royal tressure of Scotland (for Howard)

2nd Gules three lions passant guardant in pale or in chief

a label of three points argent (for Brotherton) 3rd Chequy or and azure (for Warren)

and 4th Gules a lion rampant argent (for Mowbray) a crescent a fess point for difference

(on the sinister) Barry nebuly of six or and sable (for Blount)

Secondary Crest (verso) : A demi-lion rampant (……?......) holding in the dexter paw a cross crosslet

(……?......) (for ……?......)

Condition : Excellent; fully hallmarked on body with maker's mark and lion passant on cover,

scratchweight and engraving on underside,
the engraving slightly worn on cover but still visible, small minor dent to the lid

Provenance :

The Duke of Norfolk :

The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England,

and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl.

The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, Earl Marshal and hereditary Marshal of England.

Secondary Crest Verso :

As it was engraved in a discreet place it was in all probability the crest of a later owner of the piece.

 Sotheby's, London, Important Silver, December 18th 2007, Gold Boxes & Objects of Vertu, lot 190,
Sotheby's, London, October 9th 1969, lot 153,
and Christies, London, March 4th 1992, lot 188.

Charles Frederick Kandler :

"The identity of this highly important maker remains a baffing mystery." (Grimwade, p. 367) .

Arriving in London from his native Dresden in 1727, he is believed to have been a younger brother of

Johann Joachim Kandler (Kändler) (1706-1775), the famous modeler at the Meissen Porcelain Manufacture.

He remains one of the most highly regarded silversmiths of his time.

His rococo pieces of the 1730s and early 1740s were inspirational to later generations of silversmiths

and his work is often compared to that of Paul de Lamerie and George Wickes.

3.25" Diameter / 6.2 oz

SOLD

#7027

* These armorial bearings undoubtedly commemorate the marriage of

Edward Howard, the 9th Duke of Norfolk (born 5th June 1686 died 20th September 1777)

and Mary Blount (born circa 1712 died 27th May 1773),

the second daughter and co-heiress of Edward Blount, of Blagden in the County of Devon.

Edward and Mary were married on the 26th November 1727.

Edward was the second son of Lord Thomas Howard, of Worksop in the County of Nottinghamshire and Mary Elizabeth Savile,

the daughter and sole heiress of Sir John Savile, the 1st and last Baronet of Copley in the County of Yorkshire.

Edward's father, Thomas was the second son of Henry Howard, the 6th Duke of Norfolk.

Given the date of manufacture of this particular piece it undoubtedly formed part of a greater suite of silver

that may well have been commissioned by Edward or by the couple together in order to celebrate their marriage.

The distinctive columns and applied cartouches on the side of this box match other pieces supplied

to the Norfolk family by Kandler around the same time,

including a set of baluster casters, some of which remain at Arundel Castle.

It is unusual that Edward and Mary's arms are impaled for ordinarily as an heraldic heiress

Mary would have placed her arms in pretence resting centrally over those of Edward's arms.

Perhaps from an aesthetic viewpoint they preferred their arms to be impaled.

Edward succeeded his brother, Thomas Howard, the 8th Duke of Norfolk on his death in 1732.

So the Howard arms shown here predate Edward inheriting the Dukedom of Norfolk,

hence the cadency mark of a crescent as a second son placed on the fess point of his arms.

At the time of the Jacobite Rising of 1715, Edward's brother, Thomas Howard,

the 8th Duke of Norfolk used his influence to secure the acquittal of Edward (a lifelong Jacobite)

on the charge of high treason.

On Edward's death in 1777 as he and Mary never had any children, the Dukedom of Norfolk and

several of the inferior peerages were inherited by a distant cousin of Edward's whilst the Earldom of Norwich

and the Barony of Howard of Castle Rising that were granted to his grandfather, Henry Howard, the 6th Duke of Norfolk,

fell into extinction for want of a male heir. Seven baronies by writ he also held at the time of his death fell into abeyance.

The Duke of Norfolk is the premier duke in the peerage of England,

and also, as Earl of Arundel, the premier earl.

The Duke of Norfolk is, moreover, Earl Marshal and hereditary Marshal of England.

Duchess of Norfolk, Mary Howard, nee Blount, by William Hoare, 1730's 

The Duchess, both intelligent and assertive, was referred to as "My Lord Duchess" by Horace Walpole.

Her keen interest in arts drove her to restore the Norfolk House in 1755.

According to the astronomer William Wales, she had asked the explorer Captain James Cook

to have an island named after her. He had not heard about the Duchess's death

when he discovered Norfolk Island, and named it in her honor.

Heraldry Courtesy of John Tunesi of Liongam

Hertfordshire, United Kingdom