Of quite heavy weight, each ovoid melon-lobed body raised on a
quatrefoil lobed foliate cast and chased base, and
sided by two
up-curving stem form handles issuing from acanthus leaves, below a
straight neck crested on each side;
the removable
collar with cast floral and foliate rim above a tinned interior
with a separate liner which is silvered on
the interior and set on a raised ring; the crest, an ostrich
on a chapeau, in mouth a horseshoe
(Earl of Leicester - dating is contemporary with Thomas William Coke - see below)
Condition: Excellent, with several areas of expected light bleed at the
high points of the vertical ribbing; several minor
silver reinforcements to ribbing at the seam joins
10.5" High x 10.5" Wide over Handles
SOLD
#5791
Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (6 May 1754 – 30 June
1842) became famous for his advanced
methods
of animal husbandry used in improving his estate at Holkham in Norfolk.
As a result, Coke of Norfolk is seen
as one
of the instigators of the British Agricultural Revolution.
Thomas
Coke's efforts to improve the Holkham Hall estate became a marathon
project which began in 1776 and
lasted
until his death in 1842. People interested in farming were said to flock
to annual three-day gatherings at
Holkham
at sheep-shearing time – the so-called Holkham Clippings – from
all over Britain and from overseas.
Coke's Clippings were the fore-runners of today's agricultural
shows. He is particularly credited with improvements to
animal
breeding and husbandry relating to cattle, sheep and pigs.
For
most of his life, he was happy to remain plain Mr Coke: it is said that
he had been offered a peerage seven times by
six
different Prime Ministers - sometimes by Whigs as a reward and at others
by Tories as a bribe. Often celebrated by the title
Coke
of Norfolk, Coke was eventually ennobled by Queen Victoria in 1837,
accepting a new Earldom of Leicester so
that
the sons of his second marriage might inherit his title, and was created Viscount Coke and Earl of Leicester,
of
Holkham in the County of Norfolk.
Lord
Leicester died at Longford Hall, Derbyshire.
(Wikipedia)
See https://www.holkham.co.uk/
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