Object Description
A fine quality antique silver dish of circular form with a ribbed and scalloped border, all raised on three cast shaped feet. Excellent weight and patina. The centre has a finely engraved armorial and decorative cartouche within an expansive shell and scroll decoration. All typical of the period and displaying the Hugeunot influence associated with this maker.
Weight 715g, 22.9 troy oz. Scratch weight 23=6.
Diameter 24cm, inner diameter 19.5cm. Height 4 cm.
Circa 1735.
Maker’s mark only for Benjamin Godfrey.
Sterling silver.
This could also be used as a salver or small tray
Marks. Stamped underneath with the makers mark for Benjamin Godfrey and an incuse crown struck 3 times (unidentified). The scratch weight 23=6 is engraved to the base.
Maker: Benjamin Godfrey
Benjamin Godfrey (1699-1741) was apprenticed to John Craig the Westminster jeweller in 1716 for 7 years. In 1729 he acquired a jeweller’s premises in Norris St, just 18 months before the goldsmiths Abraham Buteux and his wife Elizabeth (Eliza) moved their silver manufactory to Norris St. When Buteux died in 1731 his widow Eliza (daughter of Simon Pantin) continued the family business and several months later in 1732 she and Benjamin were married.
Benjamin was not a Huguenot but born to an affluent English family with cousins in the aristocracy. He continued both the retail jeweller’s shop and the silversmith’s premises in Norris St and despite having no experience of silvermaking he entered marks at Goldsmiths Hall as a largeworker, presumably for use by Eliza. 1st mark in 1732, 2nd and 3rd marks in 1739. When Benjamin died in died 1741 Eliza entered her own widow’s mark.
The Godfreys’ work displays strong Huguenot influences in design and fine execution, their later works incorporating rococo designs. Just as one would expect from a family background such as Eliza’s.
biography extracted from Sandra Robinson’s “Simon Pantin & His Children”
Free Shipping Worldwide