Pair of Irish Silver Wine Cups, Dublin c.1758

Pair Irish silver wine cups Dublin 1750 by William Townsend
Pair Irish silver wine cups Dublin 1750 by William Townsend DSCN9472 DSCN9473 v2 DSCN9474 v3 DSCN9475 v3 DSCN9476 DSCN9477 v2 DSCN9479 v2 DSCN9483

£1,995.00

Wine Cups (pair) - Dublin circa 1758 by William Townsend - 12.8cm high; 10cm diameter; 17cm wide; 817g combined weight - KS/5382

These are a stunning pair of mid-18th century Irish antique silver 2-handled wine cups complete with original chased decoration in the Rococo style.

They are of the very highest quality with both cups having a hefty feel in the hand, oozing high class with the superbly executed vine tendril and foliate chasing and the original gilt interiors just adding to the overall opulence. The urn-shaped cups have two scroll handles and stand on a pedestal foot. There is an asymmetric cartouche to both sides; one side bearing an engraved crest featuring a centaur (half archer, half horse), whilst the other is engraved with the coat-of-arms of the original owner.

The vine leaf and grape decoration suggest that these cups were probably once intended for drinking wine and the gilding to the interiors lends support to this suggestion as the gold will protect the silver from the corrosive effects of red wine.

The cups are a matching pair with identical, crisply stamped Dublin hallmarks for William Townsend. Typically with much Irish silverware of the mid-18th century no date letter has been stamped, but the exact year can be ascertained from the style of Hibernia and crowned harp marks - in this instance they appear to most closely resemble those of 1758 (see "Hall-marks on Dublin Silver 1730-1772" by Kurt Ticher et al. The condition is superb throughout - they are outstanding examples of Irish Rococo silver.