The Neptune centrepiece in the Royal Collection has been discussed at length and described as ‘the purest rococo creation in English silver’, it formed part of the table service displaying the most advanced French taste of the period. The marine theme of the piece, with its Neptune finial, swags of shells and pieces of coral and detachable dishes in the form of abalone shells, suggests it was used to serve fish soups and seafood.

In 1826 George IV commissioned further pieces to increase the splendour and magnificence of the service. This Ferguson centrepiece the focus of this week’s Director’s Choice is the prototype to some of those glorious additions in the Royal marine service. Once more showing the inventiveness and superb art of the goldsmith and Royal retailer’s Rundell, Bridge & Rundell.

Here our centrepiece rests on a shaped triangular base cast and chased with waves resting on turtles, shell and coral, the large shell shaped body held by three seahorses, engraved on lip with two coats-of-arms.

The design of this centrepiece appears to be prototypes of the rococo revival form employed by Rundell, Bridge and Rundell, the Royal Goldsmiths, for the set of four silver-gilt soup tureen and covers, marked for John Bridge, London, 1826 which form part of the magnificent Grand Service of King George IV. They in turn take inspiration from the high rococo Marine Service of the 1740s made for Frederick, Prince of Wales. It has been suggested that the 1820s form was conceived for Rundells by the sculptor and John Flaxman (1755-1826), see S. Bury, 'The Lengthening Shadow of Rundells, part 2', 'The Substance and Growth of the Flaxman Tradition', The Connoisseur, March 1966, p. 152. The form of the supporting hippocamps or seahorses is believed to have been derived from a similar form found on the silver-gilt mounted nautilus shell cup by Nikolaus Schmidt of Nuremberg, circa 1550, supplied to King George IV by Rundells in 1823, see J. Roberts ed., Royal Treasures: A Golden Jubilee Celebration, London, 2002, p. 267.

The first arms are those Nisbet quartering Hamilton in pretence and Nisbet quartering Hamilton in a lozenge, for John Fergusson M.P. (1770-1840), of Raith, Fife and Portman Square, London, and his second wife Mary (d.1855), daughter and heiress of William Hamilton Nisbet (1747-1822) of Dirleton and Belhaven, co. Haddington, formerly wife of Thomas, 7th Earl of Elgin (1766-1841) from whom she was divorced by Act of Parliament in 1808. Fergusson and Mary Hamilton Nisbet were married in 1808. On his death Ferguson's estates passed to his brother Sir Ronald Crawfurd Ferguson G.C.B. M.P. (1777-1841).