Description

Silver fulfilled a prominent role in projecting wealth, status, power, and ritual in British life during the 1600s and 1700s. Elaborate forms such as the trophy that accompanies this lid, with its swags of flowers, neoclassical rosettes, and acanthus spears, not only represented wealth in its sheer silver weight but also provided royal and aristocratic owners a surface for displaying engraved coats of arms. Engraved on one side of the trophy cup can be found the arms of Robert Grosvenor (1767–1845), the first Marquess of Westminster, and Lady Eleanor Egerton (1770–1846), whom he married in 1794, a year after the trophy’s completion. The other side depicts preparations for a horserace, the most culturally significant leisure activity enjoyed by aristocratic families in the 1700s. Grosvenor owned a number of famous horses and was likely awarded this trophy following a successful race.