Object Description
A stunning set of 12 antique sterling silver plates of plain design with shaped gadroon borders. Excellent quality. Each with a large family armorial hand engraved to the rim with the motto “Forte Scutum Salus Ducum” and crown above.
Total weight 5958g, 191.5 troy oz.
Diameter 24.2cm.
London 1765.
Maker Charles Friedrich Kändler.
Sterling silver.
Marks. Stamped on the reverse with a full and matching set of English silver hallmarks. All same maker and date.
Arms. These are the marital arms of Matthew Fortescue, (31 Mar 1719–10 Jul 1785), 2nd Baron Fortescue and his wife Anne (1728 – 26 May 1812), daughter of John Campbell of Stackpole Court and Cawdor. They married on 8 Jul 1752. Matthew was the half-brother of Hugh Fortescue, (1696–1751), 1st Earl Clinton and 1st Baron Fortescue, 14th Baron Clinton, who died unmarried. He inherited the Fortescue barony by special remainder.
Anne’s father John Campbell (1695 – 6th September 1777) was M.P. for Pembrokeshire 1727-47, Inverness Burghs, 1754-61, and Corfe Castle 1762-68, and was a Lord of the Admiralty and Treasury.
“Forte Scutum Salus Ducum” is the Latin motto of the Fortescue family, meaning “A strong shield is the salvation of leaders” (or “safety of commanders/generals”). It is closely associated with the legend that the family’s founder saved William the Conqueror by shielding him during the 1066 invasion.
Maker: Charles Friedrich Kändler
Charles Friedrich Kändler (1712–1778) was the younger brother of Charles Kandler (Carl Rudolph Kändler) b.1695, a German from Saxony.
Charles senior was the elder brother of Johann Joachim Kandler, the prized porcelain modeller at the Meissen factory, with whom he shared many similarities of style.
When Charles returned to Germany, probably because his father was not well, his younger brother Charles Friedrich took over the business in London in September 1735 with a fresh set of sterling and new standard marks. A subsequent mark was entered in 1739.
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