{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O7769"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O7769/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV5067/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV5067/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AV5067","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KN2439","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LK4223","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX7433","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AN6711","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O7769/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O7769","accessionNumber":"M.149:1 to 14-1919","objectType":"Epergne","titles":[{"title":"The Newdigate Centrepiece","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>A table centrepiece, also known as an 'epergne', used to hold courses for dinner or dessert.<br><br><b>History & Use</b><br>The form is based on a composite type of table centrepiece established at the French court around 1700, and which had become an essential element of the very grandest English dining-tables by the 1730s.  This highly complex example was designed for both main course and dessert use, but can in fact be used in a number of different permutations for different stages in the meal, and indeed for meals at different times of the day.<br><br>The surviving elements comprise a tureen with attached stand on four feet, a dish, four detachable branches, four detachable salvers and four finials.  It was originally supplied with a cover for the tureen and detachable candle nozzles and drip pans.<br><br>Common practice was for a centrepiece to be laid out for the main course at the more informal meal of supper; the tureen and cover contained stews or 'ragouts', kept warm by a spirit lamp underneath, while the brackets were fitted with candles and the salvers placed directly on the table.  At dinner, the centrepiece served as a fruit stand, set out at the beginning of the meal, supplemented by further dishes of fruits and sweetmeats for the dessert course.  The cover of the tureen would be replaced by the large dish and stand fitted with salvers in place of candle nozzles.  By the 1750s the composite centrepiece had developed into the now more familiar dessert centrepiece, often with hanging baskets.<br><br><b>Decoration</b><br>This elaborate centrepiece (a wedding present) is richly decorated with characteristic Rococo motifs - bold scrollwork, flowers and shells - but also contains elements typical of de Lamerie's work, such as the helmeted putti.","physicalDescription":"The centrepiece now comprises fourteen elements, a basin or tureen on four feet, a dish for dessert, four salvers which screw into four branches and four finials. The elements are richly decorated with cast and chased motifs, with the borders made up of asymmetrically arranged floral sprays and shellwork with applied cast details.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Lamerie, Paul de","id":"A8591"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"sterling silver","id":"AAT10977"}],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"},{"text":"chasing","id":"AAT54016"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"},{"text":"Food vessels & Tableware","id":"THES48952"},{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006AV5067","2017KN2439","2019LK4223","2019LX7433","2006AN6711"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"},{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA3","shelf":"","box":"51"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Epergne (Newdigate Centrepiece)","id":""}],[{"text":"Dish","id":""}],[{"text":"Salver","id":""}],[{"text":"Salver","id":""}],[{"text":"Salver","id":""}],[{"text":"Salver","id":""}],[{"text":"Branch","id":""}],[{"text":"Branch","id":""}],[{"text":"Branch","id":""}],[{"text":"Branch","id":""}],[{"text":"Finial","id":""}],[{"text":"Finial","id":""}],[{"text":"Finial","id":""}],[{"text":"Finial","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1743","earliest":"1743-01-01","latest":"1743-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1743-1744","earliest":"1743-05-29","latest":"1744-05-28"},"association":{"text":"hallmarked","id":"x32454"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Acquired withsupport from Art Fund, Goldsmiths' Company, Mr Otto Beit, Sir John Ramsden, Mr A. S. Marsden-Smedley, Mr Louis Clarke and Mr G. C. Bower","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"25.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"56.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"49","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"210 troy oz\r\n6532 g\nDimensions checked: Registered Description; 01/01/1998 by LM","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"The arms of Newdigate (gules, three lions' jambs erased, argent) impaling those of Conyers (azure, a maunch or, over all a bendlet gobony ermine and gules)","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"on the central dish and the four smaller salvers","script":"","translation":"Sir Roger Newdigate of Arbury Hall, Warwickshire and Sophia Conyers, granddaughter of Lord Lempster, who married him in 1743","transliteration":"","type":"Decoration","note":"Decoration; on the central dish and the four smaller salvers"}],"objectHistory":"Made in London by the workshop of Paul de Lamerie (born in Bois-le-Duc, The Netherlands, about 1688, died in London, 1751)","historicalContext":"The epergne or surtout was the most complex object made by English goldsmiths; the Newdigate epergne, even in its present state, can be assembled in six different ways for different types of meal. Its form and components are those which have become standard in England in the preceding 30 years and it is a late version of the multi-function centrepiece which emerged at the French court ca. 1700, to be rapidly copied by English goldsmiths.\r\n\r\nAlthough pieces of tableware (epergnes, tureens, wine coolers) were the most elaborately decorated and so the most expensive of any category of plate, the motifs were usually standard. The helmeted putti recur, for instance, on Lamerie's teawares of the early 1740s.\r\nPaul de Lamerie exhibition catalogue, Goldsmiths' Hall, 1990, No. 81, (entry by Philippa Glanville)","briefDescription":"Epergne, silver, London hallmarks for 1743-44, mark of Paul de Lamerie.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Hare, Susan (Ed.), <i>Paul de Lamerie: at the sign of the golden ball: an exhibition of the work of England's master silversmith (1688-1751)</i>, London, Goldsmiths' Company, 1990","id":"AUTH356102"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"From about 1715 the centrepiece or epergne took pride of place on the table as the grandest piece of plate in the dining service. This elaborate example, bought from the highly successful Huguenot goldsmith Paul de Lamerie, was a present from Lady Lempster to her grand-daughter Sophia Conyers on her marriage to Sir Roger Newdigate of Arbury Hall, Warwickshire in 1743. It could be arranged in different ways, with branches supporting dishes for the dessert as shown here, or mounted with pieces now missing, candle sconces on the branches and a cover for the tureen for the main course. The four flame-shaped [in fact leaf-shaped] finials can be placed into the sockets when the branches are removed.\r\nGallery 58 case 4","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"British Galleries:\r\nThe centrepiece is encrusted with Rococo ornament, including rich scrollwork, asymmetric floral sprays and shell-like decoration called 'rocaille'. From about 1715 centrepieces were the grandest pieces of dining silver.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["M.149:1-1919","M.149:2-1919","M.149:3-1919","M.149:4-1919","M.149:5-1919","M.149:6-1919","M.149:7-1919","M.149:8-1919","M.149:9-1919","M.149:10-1919","M.149:11-1919","M.149:12-1919","M.149:13-1919","M.149:14-1919"],"accessionNumberNum":"149","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1919,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Epergne (Newdigate Centrepiece)","Dish","Salver [1]","Salver [2]","Salver [3]","Salver [4]","Branch [1]","Branch [2]","Branch [3]","Branch [4]","Finial [1]","Finial [2]","Finial [3]","Finial [4]"],"assets":["2019LU9156","2019LU8438","2019LU6855","2019LU6282","2019LU5778","2019LT9405","2019LT8172","2019LV7617","2019LV7482","2019LV7358","2019LV7118","2019LV6736","2019LV6653","2019LV6057"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"1998-06-01","availableToBook":false}}