The Golden Age of Silver Metalworks!


The Golden Age of Silver

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Shining, rare and exotic.

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From the earliest times, silver has been accumulated by the wealthy

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as an expression of power.

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And the malleability of this precious metal

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has made it attractive for craftsmen keen to fashion it to the latest taste.

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But never more so than in the 18th and 19th centuries,

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when Britain's rich were richer than ever before,

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when fashionability was key

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and silver was available in new-found quantity.

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In this era, the upper echelons of society

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built impressive collections of this dazzling metal.

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And with silversmiths of unparalleled skill flocking to British shores,

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these collections became expressions of the most exquisite craftsmanship in Europe.

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I'll be uncovering the British love affair with silver,

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tapping into the fantastical 18th century world of exuberance,

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display, creative indulgence.

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This was the era when wealth and display

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were focused around the dining table

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and vast fortunes were spent on dazzling silver tableware.

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I'll also explore how exciting new dining styles in the 19th century

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provided yet more excuse for innovation...

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before industrialisation

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and mass production began to widen the appeal of this precious metal.

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These two extraordinary centuries reveal the characters,

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the dinner parties

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and the stories behind internationally renowned silver

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that takes your breath away.

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I'm going to immerse myself in the golden age of silver.

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In Britain, one metal has sparkled more brightly than all others -

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silver.

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From Greek and Roman times,

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silver coinage represented portable wealth of a very precise value.

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And this precious metal has always been a sign of status

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and conspicuous consumption.

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Monarchs and lords have commissioned extravagant domestic silver.

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From elaborate water fountains,

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to delicate egg cups. Gilt tea canisters,

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to stunning basins for washing privileged hands.

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But in the 18th and 19th centuries,

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with the landed gentry at their wealthiest and most powerful,

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silver had its finest shimmering moment,

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creating the most ostentatious dining tables in the land.

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The rich were very rich indeed.

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In 18th-century England, the aristocracy represented 0.02% of the population,

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but they controlled government, enjoyed vast wealth

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and owned 20% of England's land value.

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The display of this wealth, preferably the tasteful display,

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was every gentleman's privilege.

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Silver was one such privilege.

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It was originally sourced from central Europe,

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but from the 16th century onwards,

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we increasingly traded in woollen cloth for Spanish silver,

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mined from great reserves discovered in the New World.

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By the 18th century, Britain had become a huge economic force,

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with its merchants trading around the world, creating vast wealth

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and the prosperous elite could spend their fortunes on silver.

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The wealthy, particularly the aristocracy,

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ever ready to patronise London's renowned and skilled craftsmen,

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made the most of this precious metal that flooded into the country.

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BELLS

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But it was here around the dinner table where those with money,

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celebrity or blue blood showed their metal.

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Where politics, romance and socialising took place

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and it was dazzling.

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If you were at the top of society, then you wanted the best

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and so you wanted the most expensive, luxurious

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and fashionable objects and those were made in silver.

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So, who were the men behind the silver?

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Men like Paul Crespin, pictured here.

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Many silversmiths working in England had one trait in common -

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a background of suffering that belies the beauty

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and creativity of their craft.

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David Willaume the younger,

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Peter Archambo,

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Paul de Lamerie. These are all French Protestants.

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'In the face of religious persecution,

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'their families fled France in the late 17th century...'

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..and in the process, changed the face of English silverware forever.

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The men responsible for this exquisite work,

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such as this urn chased with shells and scrolls,

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were of French Protestant origin,

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known as Huguenots.

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But behind the sparkle lies the unsavoury story of oppression.

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Protestants were, at best, tolerated in Catholic France,

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due to the Edict of Nantes -

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a law which promoted basic religious tolerance.

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In 1685, Louis XIV revoked this vital edict.

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It was no longer legal to be a practising Protestant in France.

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The Huguenots were in turmoil.

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They faced arrest, imprisonment, torture, execution.

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It was a terrible predicament.

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To leave France for a Protestant was illegal.

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Certainly, they couldn't take property out of the country.

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So, if they were caught, they could be imprisoned,

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sent to the galleys, killed.

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Despite the high risks, from 1670 to 1710,

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around 50,000 Huguenots flooded into Protestant England.

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In London, Spitalfields, on the northeast edge of the city,

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became a stronghold of Huguenot silk weavers,

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while leading silversmiths settled here in Soho

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from the late 17th century.

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It's now strange to think about it,

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but at that period, French was a very common language on these streets.

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The word "refugee" entered the English language

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to describe these desolate Protestants.

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The Huguenots brought their skills,

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their crafts and their French taste with them.

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This was vitally important, because in London in the late 17th century,

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the French court style was the height of fashion, the height of taste.

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People importing goods from Paris,

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imitating France in every way they could.

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So can you imagine in London, hundreds,

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if not thousands of skilled French crafts men suddenly arrived?

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The Huguenots' refugee status

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made them willing to work longer hours for lower rates.

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As a group of outsiders, the Huguenots stuck together,

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intermarrying and finding work for each other.

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They quickly established a reputation for the quality of their work.

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I'm meeting with silver historian Christopher Hartop

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in a French Protestant church to discuss the refugee's struggle.

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So tell me, what were conditions like for the Huguenots when they arrived in London?

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It was probably pretty daunting.

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One and two becomes a multitude of Huguenots coming in.

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They usually just had the clothes on their backs.

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-Right.

-So the tide, the public reception starts to turn.

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So, 20 years later, there's a petition to the Goldsmiths' Company

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saying that these Huguenots are taking our work away from us.

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If you wanted to have a shop and sell your own silver,

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you had to take it to Goldsmiths' Hall,

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where it was assayed and then hallmarked.

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And in order to do that, you had to be a freeman of the City of London.

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Not necessarily a freeman of the Goldsmiths' Guild,

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you had to be a freeman, a member of one of the guilds.

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This is fascinating. There were people who wanted to stop them expanding.

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-They worked a closed shop against them, I suppose.

-It did, in time.

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So you find people like Archambo actually becoming a member of the Butchers' Company.

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-Really?!

-He wasn't a butcher.

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'But the Huguenots had talents the English couldn't compete with.'

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I mean, this is a typical English piece of silver,

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from the 1670s. It's really a bit like folk art.

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-It's quite crudely done, it's quite light...

-Yes.

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..made of very thin gauge silver. The handles are cast in sand,

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so you can see there's lots of granulation, of air holes in it.

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-Really interesting.

-What the people at the top of the social scale wanted were French things

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and this is a typical Huguenot-style thing.

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It's by Jacob Margas and made in London in the 1690s.

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It's a much heavier gauge.

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It's a baroque style, very simple. This is done by lost wax casting,

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where you can get much more detail.

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And so it's much more highly finished than this.

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Absolutely, yes, yes.

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Baroque was the grand sculptural style

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employed across the arts in the 17th and 18th century

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to impress and overawe.

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It used elaborate ornament, inspired by natural forms,

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to appeal to the senses, as well as the intellect

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and it showed just what Huguenot silversmiths could do.

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But the silversmith every aristocrat wanted to commission was Paul De Lamerie,

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who lived and worked here in what is now London's Chinatown.

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The Victoria and Albert Museum describes Paul de Lamerie

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as the greatest silversmith working in England in the 18th century.

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Now that's quite an accolade.

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Despite a troubled start in life,

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de Lamerie becomes the most sought-after silversmith of his generation.

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Paul de Lamerie seems to have had an extraordinary grasp of the market,

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of contemporary taste.

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He had an eye on the best craftsmen

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and he was also a brilliant networker

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and had extraordinary business acumen.

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So it was that combination of skills

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that resulted in him producing silver

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which had that must-have quality.

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De Lamerie's family arrived in London by 1691,

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settling here, on Gerrard Street.

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It was once a bustling Huguenot heartland.

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De Lamerie, the son of French gentry, now the son of a refugee,

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follows silversmithing as an honourable career.

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He was apprentice to a goldsmith

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and he became free in 1713, registered a mark

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and within three years, he'd been appointed one of the goldsmiths to the King

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and in fact, Paul de Lamerie himself became a captain in the militia...

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-Yes, yes.

-..was extremely successful and died extremely rich.

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The Huguenots took silverware in Britain

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to unprecedented heights of craftsmanship.

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When a new decorative style called rococo

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swept through the French court of Louis XV from the 1720s,

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the Huguenots were poised in London to create a British interpretation.

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Rococo was much freer than baroque,

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was asymmetrical, curvaceous and inspired by nature,

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featuring playful riots of flowers, shells and foliage.

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The English aristocrats were swept away by rococo

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and it's here that de Lamerie excelled.

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If you analyse this cup, it's a riot of ornament.

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If you take away the ornament,

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I'm not sure you're left with any structure.

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The structure is subsumed by the ornament.

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So if you look at the lid,

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what in the early 18th century would've been a finial,

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perhaps in the form of an acorn, has turned into a bunch of grapes

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and is asking to be viewed from every angle.

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A rococo object is really inviting you

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to inspect the detail of ornament.

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You get the rise of the art of the chaser,

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the very talented craftsmen, who thinks in three dimensions.

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To understand these techniques,

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I'm visiting contemporary silversmith Theresa Nguyen

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in her Birmingham studio.

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Just from one material,

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there's different examples of what can be achieved in metal,

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so you can create very fluid forms and it's a very robust and enduring material.

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'Repousse and chasing are the first methods to be unravelled.'

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Repousse is a technique where metal is formed by hammering

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from the back of the piece of metal.

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So here I'm using a steel punch and a chasing hammer.

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So repousse creates a low-relief pattern

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on the back of the design

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and this will be the front of the design

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and the next stage would be to hand-chase the details

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to add definition to this repousse relief.

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With a technique of chasing,

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you achieve this embossed impression into the silver.

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Another surface decoration technique we explore is engraving,

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used to stunning effect on this piece, called Awakening Two.

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The silver now captures and reflects every ray.

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Here I'm going to use a graver tool, which has a sharp V shape'

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which then is used to cut and remove the metal.

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This is the unforgiving bit, isn't it? Every mistake, you can't put it right, can you?

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That's right, so you do need quite a steady hand

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and the angle of cut creates these light-reflecting surfaces onto the silver.

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So, here you have some examples that I've created earlier.

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It's very lively, isn't it? Gosh. The light, bouncing around, yes.

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It brings it to life, yes.

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'I want to relate Theresa's demonstrations to the glorious past masters.'

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I've got a mid-18th century sketch here,

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by Nicholas Sprimont, of a soup tureen

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and I want to find out what he was envisaging.

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Well, initially I assume that the tureen was hand-raised

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from an oval sheet of silver.

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This piece is made up of several cast elements

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and the chaser would then use various steel punches

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to define all the different details.

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So, it looks like it's integrated into the whole object...

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-Oh, OK.

-..just from my own experience of working with silver,

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there's that, almost connection I have with those past makers, like Paul de Lamerie.

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Although I appreciate the craftsmanship of the silversmiths I've been exploring,

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it's all too easy to romanticise their world.

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In the 18th century, the silver trade was a hungry business machine.

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Successful silversmiths like Paul de Lamerie had a huge network of staff working for them

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and they delegate or outsource work as a matter of course.

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They created a brand and they supervised, designed the label.

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They kept the quality up, they didn't actually make everything.

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I think probably the closest analogy is the car.

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You buy a car, a make of car because you think it's good,

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but of course, it's a product of lots of different processes,

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designers, manufacturers. It's something that all comes together.

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I think it in no way lessens our appreciation of Lamerie.

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This dish, made for Lord Maynard in 1736,

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is a great example of De Lamerie's outsourcing.

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It was created by a mysterious craftsman,

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known only as a Maynard Master,

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yet was hallmarked by de Lamerie.

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It stretches the possibilities of silver.

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The silhouette is broken up

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and it's broken up to invite in the four elements -

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fire, air, water and earth.

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I particularly like, again, the characteristic rococo pootie,

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who's bringing Lord Maynard's coat of arms to life.

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I think this is utterly astonishing.

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It's made for the patron as a status symbol,

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but also to indicate that the patron is aware,

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is appreciating the extraordinary heights of achievement

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in the craft of silver-making in the 1730s.

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Silversmiths at the top of their profession could prosper so enormously

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that they themselves became landed gentry.

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The Willaume family,

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who worked extensively for the second Earl of Warrington,

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had an inspirational rise through society.

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They were dealing with enormous amounts of money, comparatively speaking.

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And because they had so much precious metal, they started loaning it out for interest

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and a lot of clients used them as we use a bank today.

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They would instruct them to pay other bills

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and that starts modern banking.

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Some of them, like the Willaume family, were particularly successful.

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-Of course, yes.

-They had a very upmarket establishment,

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that was basically a bank.

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But they also would supply you with silverware from their own workshop.

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David Willaume I, the father,

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made so much money that he became a very big landowner.

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He bought an estate in Bedfordshire - Tingrith -

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and became part of the landed gentry.

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The focus of silver craftsmanship was on dinner ware.

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Fine dining held a pivotal role in society.

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For it was around the dinner table that politics,

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romance and business took place.

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'About four fifths of domestic expenditure

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'was, in effect, in the dining room, or for the dining room.'

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Dinners were written about, they were reported in the newspapers,

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dinners were written up in memoirs.

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Dining was how people were judged at the top of society.

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'Fine dinnerware by London-based master craftsmen

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'was deemed a perfectly normal expression of wealth,

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'and the examples are eye-watering.

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'The 2nd Earl of Ashburnham

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'commissioned this detailed centrepiece

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'from Nicholas Sprimont, which showcased its maker's speciality,

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'the lifelike modelling of animals and fruits.

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'The Jewel Office ordered this elegant wine cooler,

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'one of a pair by Paul Crespin,

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'to decorate the 4th Earl of Chesterfield's Embassy at the Hague.

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'The new Ambassador saw the dinner table as central

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'to his diplomatic negotiations.

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'The 6th Earl of Mountrath took prized possession

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'of this Rococo Ewer by Paul de Lamerie.

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'The Earl was one of de Lamerie's most important clients,

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'and his patronage provided the opportunity for de Lamerie

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'to stretch his imagination ever further.

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'These magnificent pieces epitomise the great age of silver,

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'but there's nothing like seeing collections of silverware

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'in the great stately homes for which they were made.

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'This is Dunham Massey, the Cheshire home, in the 18th century,

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'of the 2nd Earl of Warrington.

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'Between 1694 and 1758,

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'he amassed an exceptionally large portfolio of silverware.

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'And today, although the original collection's not intact,

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'what remains still amounts to the largest group

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'of early 18th century British plate in its original location.'

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This silverware sums up an era. A metal and a man.

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Let's take a quick overview of the sensational silver collection.

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Over 1,000 individual items. 12 dozen silver plates,

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this huge wine cistern, water fountain, bread basket.

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The prettiest little silver egg cups. There's silver all over the house.

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Silver for the chapel. Silver candlesticks to light the house.

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And in the bedrooms, silver toilet surfaces.

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And, for the man who had everything, silver chamber pots.

0:22:330:22:38

It's a wonderful thing. Silver, I'm serious, amazing.

0:22:380:22:43

The 2nd Earl of Warrington commissioned 14 of these.

0:22:430:22:47

Must have made going to the loo a very exquisite experience.

0:22:470:22:51

As well as a social expectation that fine houses would display silver,

0:22:530:22:58

there was another core reason why the 2nd Earl of Warrington

0:22:580:23:02

was such an avid collector.

0:23:020:23:04

That reason was the man himself.

0:23:040:23:07

'The house in which the young Earl grew up was in a state of disrepair.

0:23:080:23:12

'He had painful memories of his mother scrimping for money,

0:23:120:23:17

'and his father actually weeping over debt.'

0:23:170:23:21

When the 2nd Earl inherited in 1694,

0:23:220:23:26

he acquired not just a great family legacy -

0:23:260:23:29

I love his family crest with this pair of boars -

0:23:290:23:32

but also inherited tremendous debts.

0:23:320:23:36

This really stayed with him.

0:23:360:23:39

His upbringing gave the young Earl a determination

0:23:390:23:42

and a particular attitude towards money.

0:23:420:23:46

'He was determined to turn the fortunes of his estate around.'

0:23:470:23:51

In 1702, the Earl cleverly but miserably married for money.

0:23:510:23:56

His wife was Mary Oldbury, a daughter of a rich merchant.

0:23:560:24:00

But he loathed her so much, he actually wrote a treatise on divorce.

0:24:000:24:05

I'd love to show you a portrait of Mary, but one doesn't exist.

0:24:050:24:10

It seemed he never had her painted.

0:24:100:24:12

However, he used her money to rebuild the house and improve the estate.

0:24:120:24:17

'This ready money helped drive the 60-year investment in silver,

0:24:200:24:25

'proudly stamped with the family coat of arms.

0:24:250:24:28

'Warrington was making his mark.

0:24:280:24:31

'The man's passion clearly documented in a fanatical inventory

0:24:310:24:36

'called "The Particular of my Plate and its Weight."

0:24:360:24:39

'The National Trust's silver expert, James Rothwell,

0:24:400:24:44

'understands the Earl's unusually personal link with his silver.'

0:24:440:24:48

So here's a very detailed inventory of the silver in the house,

0:24:480:24:52

compiled by the Earl himself in, in rather loving detail.

0:24:520:24:57

I was going to say controlling, rather than loving. Very much so.

0:24:570:25:01

Each piece has a life history, doesn't it?

0:25:010:25:03

Its weight important because of the capital value of it,

0:25:030:25:06

but also because it was a way of identifying individual pieces.

0:25:060:25:10

You have the egg frame, the egg cup frame.

0:25:100:25:12

Oh, yes. Egg frame, yes...

0:25:120:25:14

Erm, scallop shells, bread baskets.

0:25:140:25:16

-There's ounces, and then this is...

-Ounces and pennyweights.

0:25:160:25:20

Seems obsessive, a bit like collecting train numbers.

0:25:200:25:22

There's pages and pages of this.

0:25:220:25:23

Some of the descriptions in the inventory have been scratched out.

0:25:230:25:27

Does that mean they've been sold, melted down...?

0:25:270:25:29

In some cases it does.

0:25:290:25:30

For instance, you have here, the table or board

0:25:300:25:33

to set the sweetmeat sauces on has been changed.

0:25:330:25:37

That means that it would have been sent

0:25:370:25:38

to be melted down for something more fashionable.

0:25:380:25:41

This is all written by him. Not by his steward, but by him.

0:25:410:25:44

By him personally. He didn't trust anybody else to do it.

0:25:440:25:46

Nothing is left to doubt in this document.

0:25:460:25:49

You know precisely what happens to everything.

0:25:490:25:52

'The Earl's silver was in the Baroque style,

0:25:520:25:55

'which gained popularity in Britain from the late 17th century.

0:25:550:25:59

'It was dramatic, grand and boldly sculptural.'

0:25:590:26:03

Indeed, in front of me, all is solid, lustrous silver.

0:26:040:26:09

Quite clearly, the days of debt were over.

0:26:090:26:12

'Such stunning silver was a financial investment of choice

0:26:140:26:17

'in the 18th century.'

0:26:170:26:19

A key point to understand

0:26:200:26:22

is that the constituent parts of silver in "wrought plate",

0:26:220:26:25

as it's called when it's made into objects,

0:26:250:26:27

is the same as the coinage.

0:26:270:26:28

So, this is your saved wealth, your capital.

0:26:280:26:32

And it's safe, as a result of being in your hands in silver objects.

0:26:320:26:37

If you ran out of money,

0:26:370:26:39

then you could send it to be melted down and become coinage again.

0:26:390:26:42

In times of national trouble, it could be brought in.

0:26:420:26:45

So in the Civil War, an awful lot of silver went.

0:26:450:26:47

Is there another magical element to it?

0:26:470:26:49

One thing that's obvious is that it's very shiny, so it's impressive.

0:26:490:26:53

So why was a conspicuous display of wealth so important?

0:26:530:26:58

Whatever position you had in society, you had to show it.

0:26:580:27:01

And that was a pre-requisite. You had to show it.

0:27:010:27:03

You were showing that you were both rich and cultivated

0:27:030:27:07

and up to the latest fashions, so you were at the height of society.

0:27:070:27:11

And you were ruling society.

0:27:110:27:13

'Silver was a reliable investment in the 18th century

0:27:150:27:18

'because its quality was assured.

0:27:180:27:21

'We can link the craftsman to the masterpiece because of hallmarks.

0:27:210:27:26

'The world's largest office for testing, or assaying, silver

0:27:280:27:32

'is in Birmingham. Here, I'll investigate the significance

0:27:320:27:35

'behind the tiny marks on all pieces of British silver.'

0:27:350:27:39

Hallmarking, really, is one of the oldest forms of consumer protection.

0:27:400:27:44

Essentially, even today, if you go into a jeweller's or silversmith's

0:27:440:27:47

and you want to buy a piece of precious metal,

0:27:470:27:49

it's a guarantee, as you buy that piece,

0:27:490:27:52

that what you're buying is what it says on the tin, essentially.

0:27:520:27:55

Hallmarking really began in 1300,

0:27:550:27:59

when a statute was passed by King Edward I,

0:27:590:28:01

who then made it happen in this country

0:28:010:28:04

that items of precious metal had to be assayed

0:28:040:28:07

and then hallmarked before they were allowed to be sold.

0:28:070:28:10

'There are four assay offices in the United Kingdom today,

0:28:100:28:14

'each with its own distinctive mark.

0:28:140:28:17

'London uses a leopard's head. Birmingham, an anchor.

0:28:170:28:21

'Sheffield's represented by a rose.

0:28:210:28:25

'And a castle is the stamp of Edinburgh.'

0:28:250:28:28

The hallmark itself has always told us about the quality

0:28:280:28:30

of the silver, the amount of silver, the precious metal.

0:28:300:28:33

But it also tells us

0:28:330:28:35

the person who brought it to be assayed can be either the maker

0:28:350:28:38

and they have their own maker's mark, or what we called a sponsor.

0:28:380:28:41

The date letter is no longer compulsory on silver,

0:28:410:28:45

which is a shame because from a historian's point of view,

0:28:450:28:48

it will make it very difficult

0:28:480:28:49

to date pieces as accurately as we can now.

0:28:490:28:52

You look at an item and instantly you have an information trail

0:28:520:28:56

in symbols that will tell you exactly the history of your object.

0:28:560:29:00

'Knowing that hallmarks can reveal

0:29:020:29:04

'not just when and where a piece was made,

0:29:040:29:06

'but also identify the silversmith who had it assayed,

0:29:060:29:08

'I'm keen to look afresh at the marks on the Dunham Massey silver.'

0:29:080:29:14

'I can read a tankard mark by James Schruder in 1743,

0:29:140:29:19

'with London's leopard mark.

0:29:190:29:21

'And this delightful bell...'

0:29:210:29:23

BELL RINGS

0:29:230:29:25

'..is by Peter Archambo, from 1738.'

0:29:250:29:30

BELL RINGS

0:29:300:29:31

'It's evident that ordering prestigious silver

0:29:310:29:35

'from leading craftsmen was one part of the equation.

0:29:350:29:38

'The actual ritual of dining off silver

0:29:380:29:41

'was also a huge social statement.

0:29:410:29:44

'In the 18th century, a style called "a la Francaise"

0:29:440:29:47

'dominated the tables of the rich and powerful.'

0:29:470:29:51

The fashionable way to eat was "a la Francaise,"

0:29:510:29:54

and that actually derived

0:29:540:29:56

from the great Medieval banqueting form of eating.

0:29:560:29:59

That was perfected in the court of Louis XIV, hence "a la Francaise."

0:29:590:30:03

Essentially, the whole table was a magnificent display

0:30:030:30:06

when you came into the room.

0:30:060:30:08

So there were already silver objects containing food on the table.

0:30:080:30:13

It wasn't brought to you at the table.

0:30:130:30:15

-You helped yourself?

-You helped yourself.

0:30:150:30:17

The gentleman would help himself

0:30:170:30:19

-and he would also help the lady to his side.

-Ah.

0:30:190:30:22

We have here terrines and meat dishes,

0:30:220:30:26

and you'd have vegetable dishes as well,

0:30:260:30:28

and salts because salt was a pretty...

0:30:280:30:30

You'll notice there's one per diner.

0:30:300:30:32

Yes, salt. Presumably, I can imagine, servants would, with a flourish...!

0:30:320:30:36

And there it is, the steam.

0:30:370:30:38

The silver in front of us is, in a sense,

0:30:400:30:42

a prelude to what's going on behind.

0:30:420:30:44

-The real theatre's over there on the buffet, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

0:30:440:30:47

It's about service to the table.

0:30:470:30:49

You have all the accoutrements that are required during the meal,

0:30:490:30:52

and then you have ancestral pieces.

0:30:520:30:55

You're showing off your antiquity.

0:30:550:30:58

'But the star attraction of the buffet

0:30:580:31:01

'was the silverware for the service of wine.

0:31:010:31:05

'A water fountain by Peter Archambo was decorated with the boars

0:31:050:31:09

'of the family coat of arms.

0:31:090:31:11

'The water would be drawn from the fountain to rinse the glasses

0:31:120:31:16

'over this Baroque cistern.

0:31:160:31:18

'And the wine itself was stored in a gargantuan cooler packed with ice,

0:31:180:31:23

'as both red and white wine were served chilled.

0:31:230:31:27

'All pieces were proudly decorated with the family coat of arms.'

0:31:270:31:31

So, the guests here would read all this, wouldn't they?

0:31:330:31:36

He tends to go for comparatively simple shapes,

0:31:360:31:40

so all the more emphasis is put onto the arms and so forth.

0:31:400:31:44

'Then the dessert course was the opportunity

0:31:500:31:52

'to show your credentials

0:31:520:31:54

'and indulge in more breathtakingly ornate silverware.

0:31:540:31:57

'This curious object, an Epergne,

0:32:000:32:02

'originated in the French court of Versailles in the 1690s.

0:32:020:32:06

'The Earl's Epergne is sadly missing,

0:32:060:32:09

'but the Victoria and Albert Museum has some delightful examples.'

0:32:090:32:14

Here we have a wonderful elaborate piece of silver and glass,

0:32:140:32:18

both sparkling materials,

0:32:180:32:20

intended to grace the dessert stage of the meal.

0:32:200:32:23

Hothouse fruit was just as expensive to produce

0:32:230:32:26

as wonderful Italian confectionary,

0:32:260:32:28

and to be able to put little apricots or grapes

0:32:280:32:31

or other delicacies on your table through the winter

0:32:310:32:34

was another index of wealth.

0:32:340:32:36

'English silversmith Thomas Pitts made this Epergne in 1764.

0:32:380:32:43

'They were his speciality.

0:32:430:32:45

'The Epergne was the triumphant climax of the dinner service.

0:32:460:32:49

'Enjoyed from every angle,

0:32:490:32:52

'the huge weight of silver

0:32:520:32:54

'intricately crafted into an exquisite centrepiece

0:32:540:32:58

'required the touch of a master craftsman.'

0:32:580:33:00

An Epergne was going to be the one object

0:33:020:33:04

that everybody looked at closely.

0:33:040:33:06

It's on the table probably throughout the dinner.

0:33:060:33:09

What we have here is a typical piece of Rococo silver.

0:33:090:33:14

It builds up, it uses floral elements.

0:33:140:33:17

The branches, as you can see, are wrapped with leaves.

0:33:170:33:20

Each of the little baskets

0:33:200:33:23

has a repeat floral motif around the border.

0:33:230:33:27

The piercing here is quite complicated.

0:33:270:33:30

The cutting through, which we see more often on bread baskets.

0:33:300:33:33

But here it is very pretty and gives a lightness to the whole thing,

0:33:330:33:36

so that it's springing off the table.

0:33:360:33:38

'The preparation of food was so important in the 18th century that,

0:33:460:33:50

'as well as copper, silver could be found below stairs too.'

0:33:500:33:54

Here at Dunham Massey,

0:33:540:33:55

we still have this splendid silver preserving basin.

0:33:550:34:00

It was used by the staff, because silver conducts heat brilliantly,

0:34:000:34:07

and also because of its anti-bacterial qualities.

0:34:070:34:10

It was very good to use in the preparation of food.

0:34:100:34:13

'But actually owning a little silver, perhaps some piece of cutlery,

0:34:160:34:20

'was becoming more achievable throughout society.'

0:34:200:34:24

In 1800, for example, many, many people would have silver spoons.

0:34:240:34:29

We're very familiar with the idea

0:34:290:34:31

that silver is a christening present,

0:34:310:34:32

and of course, that is what happened in former times.

0:34:320:34:35

A silver spoon was given to a child and that was personal property,

0:34:350:34:38

to be carried by that individual all through their childhood

0:34:380:34:42

and into their adult life, and then taken to the table

0:34:420:34:44

when a meal was prepared.

0:34:440:34:46

Goldsmiths travelled around the country.

0:34:460:34:48

If you wanted a little luxury, you didn't have to come to London.

0:34:480:34:50

The goldsmiths would come to the annual fairs in each region,

0:34:500:34:54

and the kind of novelty you could buy

0:34:540:34:56

would be a little travelling set like this.

0:34:560:34:59

A beaker and a knife and fork and spoon,

0:34:590:35:01

which you take apart for travelling.

0:35:010:35:04

This was a very smart present, perhaps for a young bride.

0:35:040:35:08

These are particularly decorative because they're gilded.

0:35:080:35:11

The silver has been covered

0:35:110:35:13

with a paste of powdered gold and mercury, and that's then been fired.

0:35:130:35:18

And there's a chemical reaction.

0:35:180:35:20

The mercury comes off as fumes,

0:35:200:35:22

and in fact, gilders notoriously died by 40

0:35:220:35:24

because the mercury ate their soft tissue.

0:35:240:35:27

But it produces a beautiful effect.

0:35:270:35:30

'Cutlery was a mere trifle for those at the top of society,

0:35:310:35:36

'like the 2nd Earl of Warrington.

0:35:360:35:39

'Their splendid houses had to reflect the latest tastes,

0:35:390:35:42

'and following silver fashions

0:35:420:35:45

'was a non-negotiable and persistent demand.'

0:35:450:35:48

In the 18th century,

0:35:480:35:49

as the British Empire and foreign trade expanded,

0:35:490:35:52

new, exotic commodities came from far and wide.

0:35:520:35:57

Tea from China, coffee from the Ottoman Empire.

0:35:570:36:02

And chocolate from Central and South America.

0:36:020:36:04

These were all true luxury items.

0:36:040:36:08

'But luckily enough for the silversmiths, an almost endless list

0:36:080:36:11

'of new items were required to house, display and dish up these goods.

0:36:110:36:17

'Teapots, hot water urns, sugar bowls, coffee pots, cream jugs,

0:36:170:36:21

'tea caddies, teaspoons.'

0:36:210:36:23

In the Earl's time, commissioning a portrait was a great expense,

0:36:270:36:31

and a lot of thought went into it.

0:36:310:36:33

In the 16th century, a man might like to be shown

0:36:330:36:37

in his best suit of armour to display his prowess and status.

0:36:370:36:41

A woman, bedecked in jewels.

0:36:410:36:44

But silver soon entered the language of portraiture.

0:36:440:36:48

Now, sitters liked to be shown

0:36:480:36:50

indulging the new expensive luxury of tea drinking,

0:36:500:36:56

with their silver set out on the table in front of them.

0:36:560:37:01

This, of course, displayed their taste, their wealth

0:37:010:37:03

and their familiarity with the new fashionable business of taking tea.

0:37:030:37:09

Tea was the principal drink that was had if you had anybody visiting you

0:37:130:37:17

at any time of day, essentially. Very much a luxury,

0:37:170:37:20

and you can see that in some of the objects.

0:37:200:37:22

These tea canisters which have locks in them

0:37:220:37:24

because it was such an expensive commodity.

0:37:240:37:27

By custom, the women of the household would preside over the ritual of tea.

0:37:270:37:31

Because the Earl's relationship with his wife was difficult,

0:37:310:37:34

I suppose things here were different.

0:37:340:37:36

In this house, Lord Warrington was on such bad terms with his wife,

0:37:360:37:40

it's very probable the Earl would have had to

0:37:400:37:42

perform the ceremony of tea himself.

0:37:420:37:44

That's absolutely right.

0:37:440:37:47

'On top of a great silver tea table by David Willaume the Younger

0:37:470:37:50

'sits the Earl's tea service,

0:37:500:37:52

'complete apart from two teapots by John Jacob.'

0:37:520:37:57

-We have these phantom teapots. Got to imagine teapots, two teapots.

-We do.

0:37:570:38:01

'The serving of tea was a very precise ceremony,

0:38:010:38:04

'starting with this tea canister by Isaac Liger.'

0:38:040:38:07

And it has a cap which acts as a measure, so that comes off.

0:38:070:38:12

-So it's a very precise ritual?

-It is.

-Yes.

0:38:120:38:14

And you would pour the tea out into the cap,

0:38:140:38:19

and then into our imaginary teapot.

0:38:190:38:21

You then put water in.

0:38:210:38:23

It would have been a maid who would have performed the task.

0:38:230:38:26

'Milk is dispensed from a silver Ewer by David Willaume the Younger.'

0:38:260:38:31

THEY LAUGH

0:38:310:38:33

That's more like it.

0:38:330:38:35

And then, the tea.

0:38:350:38:37

'Then sugar taken from a sparkling sugar box by John Liger.'

0:38:370:38:41

And sugar being also a very expensive commodity,

0:38:410:38:45

so the wealth you were showing by performing this ceremony...

0:38:450:38:49

-Of course. In front of one is a small fortune.

-Yes.

0:38:490:38:53

I mean, not, actually, not a small fortune, a significant fortune.

0:38:530:38:57

'All this talk of entertaining,

0:39:000:39:02

'but the one thing I want to do is experience dining from solid silver.'

0:39:020:39:07

Right, all feels very special, of course.

0:39:090:39:12

Erm, the objects are valuable,

0:39:120:39:14

and one, therefore, treats them with extra respect.

0:39:140:39:18

I mean, it creates a sense of ritual and theatre and specialness.

0:39:180:39:21

Does it affect the taste of things as well?

0:39:210:39:24

I think it does. Other thing, of course,

0:39:240:39:26

eating off a polished silver plate, I can see myself eat!

0:39:260:39:29

Bit disconcerting, never mind.

0:39:290:39:32

Mmm...

0:39:320:39:34

Delicious.

0:39:340:39:36

Also feels, of course, rather hygienic.

0:39:360:39:38

Silver has these qualities of being anti-bacterial, so it's clean.

0:39:380:39:42

Gets one's senses enflamed, and also, of course,

0:39:420:39:47

in terms of the beauty, one's senses are delighted artistically.

0:39:470:39:53

I recommend it.

0:39:540:39:56

'What's incredible about the British silver I've seen

0:39:560:40:00

'is the fact it exists at all.

0:40:000:40:02

'In the 18th and 19th centuries,

0:40:020:40:05

'people didn't have quite the same respect

0:40:050:40:07

'for antiquity or craftsmanship that we now have.

0:40:070:40:11

'Many of the pieces we see here are the survivors.

0:40:110:40:13

'So much plate was melted down to be born again in the latest fashions.'

0:40:130:40:18

'But the very wealthiest Britons had no need to melt plate at all.

0:40:200:40:24

'They could buy more.

0:40:240:40:26

'As the 18th century gave way to the 19th century,

0:40:280:40:31

'one family able to keep adding to its considerable silver collection

0:40:310:40:35

'was the Royal Family.

0:40:350:40:37

'The Prince Regent was a legendary example.

0:40:400:40:43

'Becoming Regent in 1811, then King George IV in 1820,

0:40:430:40:47

'his lavish taste and spending sprees knew no limits.'

0:40:470:40:53

The Prince created idiosyncratic buildings

0:40:530:40:55

such as the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.

0:40:550:40:57

He also commissioned four silver dinner services

0:40:570:41:00

from the Royal jewellers, Rundle, Bridge & Rundle

0:41:000:41:04

that cost him over £111,000.

0:41:040:41:08

That's around £3.5 million in today's money. Excess!

0:41:080:41:13

'Caricatures of the time show the Prince Regent's

0:41:130:41:18

'relentless love of fine dining.

0:41:180:41:20

'And in a cartoon of 1811,

0:41:200:41:23

'an audience playfully covet the Prince's extensive silverware.

0:41:230:41:29

'As the 19th century progressed, one great innovation

0:41:340:41:37

'provided the golden age of silver with a spectacular flourish.

0:41:370:41:42

'A new way of dining was introduced

0:41:430:41:45

'that became a catalyst for innovatory table pieces.

0:41:450:41:49

'The banqueting style of dining "a la Francaise" was losing favour.

0:41:580:42:03

'A new fashion called "dining a la Russe"

0:42:030:42:06

'would take the 19th century

0:42:060:42:08

'to headier heights of creative indulgence.

0:42:080:42:11

'I'm visiting Chatsworth House in Derbyshire to experience it.'

0:42:110:42:15

'This is the country seat of one of the wealthiest

0:42:220:42:25

'and most powerful families of the 18th and 19th centuries.

0:42:250:42:29

'The Devonshires.

0:42:290:42:31

'This sculpture gallery reveals their continuing patronage

0:42:340:42:37

'and collecting as a family.

0:42:370:42:40

'And what draws me here is the table in the great dining room,

0:42:440:42:49

'sparkling with silverware.

0:42:490:42:52

'It's set for a prestigious visit by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

0:42:520:42:55

'to the 6th Duke of Devonshire in December 1843.

0:42:550:43:00

'The "a la Russe" fashion really gripped the nation's imagination.

0:43:010:43:05

'It changed the way we dined and socialised.

0:43:050:43:09

'Indeed, "a la Russe" is still with us today.

0:43:090:43:12

'It's how most of us dine, particularly in restaurants.

0:43:120:43:16

'But what exactly is it?'

0:43:160:43:19

Dining "a la Francaise," all of your food was put on the table

0:43:220:43:26

in various terrines and platters and covered dishes.

0:43:260:43:30

All the diners would have helped themselves.

0:43:300:43:32

In dining "a la Russe," which is what we have here,

0:43:320:43:35

the individual diners have their food brought to them

0:43:350:43:38

by a footman, a bit like we have in a restaurant today.

0:43:380:43:42

The absence, then, of all of the pieces

0:43:420:43:45

in the middle of the table that would have been used to serve,

0:43:450:43:48

gets eaten up with this great wealth of display.

0:43:480:43:52

It's all about show, there's no practical function

0:43:520:43:56

other than that some of it provides lighting.

0:43:560:43:59

It's really just a sort of miniature sculpture gallery

0:43:590:44:02

running down the middle of the table.

0:44:020:44:04

And also, I observe, it becomes more of an individual affair,

0:44:040:44:07

cos individual wine coolers, even little glass receptacles

0:44:070:44:10

for cooling one's individual champagne glass, I suppose.

0:44:100:44:15

I mean, where did this fashion come from? Presumably from Russia.

0:44:150:44:18

Yes, dining "a la Russe," it comes from Russia.

0:44:180:44:21

It was the Russian Ambassador to the French court at the beginning

0:44:210:44:25

of the 19th century, he became Ambassador in 1808, and then,

0:44:250:44:29

as with so many things at that date, France sort of spread the fashion.

0:44:290:44:36

And presumably, it was regarded as fashionable but also more practical.

0:44:360:44:40

I mean, food would turn around more quickly?

0:44:400:44:42

Yes. I think the main, sort of, advantage of it

0:44:420:44:45

is that your food would be hot.

0:44:450:44:47

If you, sort of, the traditional "a la Francaise,"

0:44:470:44:50

the food would be sitting around for a very long time,

0:44:500:44:53

and it would go cold.

0:44:530:44:54

'The Duke commissioned much of this plate between 1813 and 1823,

0:44:560:45:02

'from English silversmiths Robert Garrard

0:45:020:45:05

'and Paul Storr, pictured here.'

0:45:050:45:07

'The silver could be easily interpreted

0:45:080:45:11

'by contemporary audiences. The family coat of arms is prominent,

0:45:110:45:16

'represented by stags which support the vase candelabra.

0:45:160:45:20

'And signs of hospitality, such as grapes, festoon the silverware.'

0:45:200:45:25

This dinner for Queen Victoria, the Duke would have wanted

0:45:320:45:36

to give her a really grand event. We know that the local newspapers

0:45:360:45:42

described the silver that ran down the centre of the table.

0:45:420:45:45

-So the silver stole the show?

-It did.

0:45:450:45:47

One paper wrote,

0:45:500:45:52

"The display on the table was splendid beyond description.

0:45:520:45:56

"Urns, vases, candelabra of the most elaborate workmanship,

0:45:560:46:02

"in the greatest profusion.

0:46:020:46:04

"The room is worthy to be the dining room of royalty." What a rave review.

0:46:040:46:10

'In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution

0:46:190:46:21

'inspired a frenzy of activity.

0:46:210:46:24

'Machines and factories were taking over our cities.

0:46:240:46:27

'Mass production would bring the price of silver down.

0:46:280:46:31

'Rail and steam power provided a distribution network

0:46:310:46:35

'all over the country.'

0:46:350:46:36

Cities were crammed with people looking for jobs and apprenticeships.

0:46:370:46:41

The silver trade was an attractive option

0:46:410:46:44

because it combined the benefits of machinery

0:46:440:46:47

with hand crafted workmanship.

0:46:470:46:49

'In the Machine Age, silverware became more widely available.

0:46:520:46:56

'Bit by bit, the middle classes were getting their hands

0:46:560:46:58

'on what had once been the preserve of the super rich.

0:46:580:47:02

'Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter is still a thriving hub

0:47:030:47:06

'for silversmiths, but I'm here to visit a factory frozen in time,

0:47:060:47:11

'to get a glimpse of what it would have been like to work here

0:47:110:47:14

'in the 19th century.

0:47:140:47:16

'Now, the dies lie still.

0:47:230:47:27

'The stamps are silent.

0:47:280:47:31

'And the people have vanished.

0:47:370:47:39

'This factory, the creation of Jenkin William Evans,

0:47:460:47:50

'reveals how the business of silver once operated.

0:47:500:47:54

Jenkin's' grandson Tony worked here till he retired in 2008,

0:47:590:48:05

'and sold this snapshot of 19th century silversmithing

0:48:050:48:08

'to English Heritage for preservation and restoration.'

0:48:080:48:12

Of course, the Jewellery Quarter would have been a thriving place then,

0:48:130:48:17

sending products out all over the Empire.

0:48:170:48:19

I heard people say that after the end of the working day,

0:48:190:48:22

the roads would be filled, almost like a football crowd.

0:48:220:48:25

There would have been thousands of people.

0:48:250:48:27

The work here was a team effort.

0:48:270:48:29

Everyone was working on maybe the same object. It went down the line.

0:48:290:48:33

Each product, as it went out the door,

0:48:330:48:35

was a product of the skill which each individual had put upon it.

0:48:350:48:40

It was a very prolific company, I imagine.

0:48:400:48:44

And prolific to, I suppose, to not mass-produce exactly,

0:48:440:48:48

you wanted to keep the prices down of the objects.

0:48:480:48:50

Silver has never been known as cheap,

0:48:500:48:53

but it certainly isn't in the same area as bespoke silverware.

0:48:530:48:57

This is silverware which anybody could buy.

0:48:570:48:59

Tell me about the young chaps, the apprentices.

0:48:590:49:01

What was their life like?

0:49:010:49:03

The apprentices would have started at the age of 14 or 15,

0:49:030:49:06

but the life would have been fairly hard.

0:49:060:49:08

They would have started their day in the simple way,

0:49:080:49:10

making the tea and watching the master craftsmen,

0:49:100:49:13

and bit by bit, being allowed to do more and more complex things.

0:49:130:49:18

And what about the girls? They had a role here, I imagine, women.

0:49:180:49:21

The tasks within the factory were basically divided

0:49:210:49:25

according to the strengths required.

0:49:250:49:26

The finer work, piercing work and so on,

0:49:260:49:29

the ladies' more deft fingers and better touch would come to plate.

0:49:290:49:34

'Barry Abbotts spent over 20 years at the Evans Factory.

0:49:370:49:41

'He'll demonstrate drop stamping for me on a piece of copper.'

0:49:420:49:46

-Hello.

-Hello.

-We're going to make something, aren't we?

0:49:480:49:52

-Yeah.

-Oh, copper?

-Wine label.

-Wine label.

-Yeah.

0:49:520:49:56

Well, I assume the object's going to be stamped.

0:49:560:49:59

Can you talk me through the process?

0:49:590:50:01

Right, basically, what I do, I've got a blank, a copper blank.

0:50:010:50:05

Put it on the die. So I'll give it a tap.

0:50:050:50:09

-Oh!

-Then a tough blow.

-Watch your fingers. Ahh...

0:50:090:50:12

-Ooh!

-Which...

-Gosh, it's quite violent, isn't it?

-Yeah.

0:50:120:50:16

So that's the label.

0:50:160:50:17

-That's right.

-Gosh, you could make a lot of those in a day, I suppose.

0:50:170:50:21

Yes, you could make about 500, 600.

0:50:210:50:24

You have to have your wits about you. After lunch down the pub,

0:50:240:50:26

you couldn't work this, could you?

0:50:260:50:28

You'd get your finger stamped into a wine label!

0:50:280:50:30

-You did get used to 'em.

-You've got your fingers, have you?

0:50:300:50:33

-Yes, yes, all of them.

-Well done.

0:50:330:50:35

But you can imagine, I mean, this is just the one hammer going.

0:50:350:50:39

The noise, of course, that's the thing. And you're OK?

0:50:390:50:42

Yeah, yeah, fine, fine. You know, you just get used to 'em.

0:50:420:50:46

Well, thank you very much for my wine label.

0:50:460:50:49

-That's fine.

-I'll treasure it.

-OK, then. Bye, then.

0:50:490:50:52

'The silver trade was a network, a huge network,

0:50:570:51:02

'and Evans was a wholesaler supplying goods to leading manufacturers.

0:51:020:51:06

'Curiously, it didn't have its own maker's mark.'

0:51:060:51:10

Tell me a little bit how the industry worked.

0:51:110:51:14

There were distinct layers to the trade.

0:51:140:51:16

You'd both have the quality or county jewellers,

0:51:160:51:18

if you like, being the retailers,

0:51:180:51:21

and they were being supplied by manufacturing silversmiths.

0:51:210:51:25

They might be very large firms, like Elkingtons,

0:51:250:51:27

or Walker & Hall, Mappin & Webb.

0:51:270:51:29

We were one step below that, where they could just buy in from us,

0:51:290:51:32

but they would buy things as components

0:51:320:51:35

-and then finish them off in their own factory.

-Right.

0:51:350:51:38

And when they went through to be hallmarked, of course,

0:51:380:51:40

they would bear their hallmark, and so Evans never existed.

0:51:400:51:44

Quite deliberately, Jenkin never registered a hallmark.

0:51:440:51:47

He wouldn't want to destroy any confidence that we would stay

0:51:470:51:50

at that level, cos potentially we could have undercut customers.

0:51:500:51:54

'What this 19th century factory reveals

0:51:560:51:58

'is the impact of the Industrial Revolution on silver production.

0:51:580:52:03

'Silver moved from an elitist luxury

0:52:030:52:07

'that the likes of the Earl of Warrington

0:52:070:52:09

'or Duke of Devonshire could afford

0:52:090:52:11

'to something attainable for all of us.'

0:52:110:52:14

Ultimately, the 19th century saw a huge rise

0:52:150:52:18

in the consumption of middle class silver, but it was,

0:52:180:52:22

of course, a class conscious age, and no ordinary person would ever dream

0:52:220:52:28

of attempting to emulate our Earl, the Prince Regent or Queen Victoria.

0:52:280:52:34

You can see a completely different range of products

0:52:340:52:37

in the 19th century, being produced and consumed by the middle classes,

0:52:370:52:43

because, of course, in a middle class household, you didn't have

0:52:430:52:46

a large number of servants, and managing silver,

0:52:460:52:49

managing a silver cupboard, plate cupboard, took a lot of care.

0:52:490:52:52

Household manuals laid out the rules most clearly

0:52:520:52:55

for the middle class ownership of silver.

0:52:550:52:58

For example, we read,

0:52:580:53:00

"Families who cannot afford plate should economise till they can obtain

0:53:000:53:05

"at least four or five cover dishes, a sufficient quantity of forks

0:53:050:53:11

"and two sauce boats of silver, made perfectly plain for everyday use.

0:53:110:53:17

"The service or plate must depend on the fortune."

0:53:170:53:22

Well, that makes things absolutely clear.

0:53:220:53:25

The manufacturers fed that hunger to be acceptable,

0:53:250:53:28

to know what you should do, by inventing objects

0:53:280:53:32

that middle class families felt they needed to have.

0:53:320:53:36

And one prime example of that is, of course, fish knives and forks.

0:53:360:53:40

Fish knives and forks proliferated in designs because, of course,

0:53:430:53:47

you can decorate the blade in all sorts of ways.

0:53:470:53:50

You can create fishy motifs and so on, you can gild the blade.

0:53:500:53:54

You can have a handle which might be,

0:53:540:53:56

as this one is, of mother of pearl.

0:53:560:53:58

And the silver gives it all class.

0:53:580:54:00

Fish knives and forks absolutely did not penetrate the upper classes,

0:54:000:54:04

and indeed still feel uneasy or mock the middle classes

0:54:040:54:07

for the pretension of eating fish with a particular tool.

0:54:070:54:12

'What the middle classes now had,

0:54:210:54:23

'the working classes also wanted on their dining tables.

0:54:230:54:29

'And new technologies would send the price of silverware plummeting.

0:54:290:54:33

'It had started with the invention of Sheffield plate,

0:54:330:54:36

'which looked like solid silver,

0:54:360:54:38

'when it was, in fact, a layer of silver on top of copper.

0:54:380:54:42

'But this was soon usurped by electroplating.

0:54:430:54:48

Patented in the 1840s

0:54:490:54:52

and championed by businessman George Richard Elkington.

0:54:520:54:56

'Now anything, however big or small,

0:54:580:55:02

'could be covered with a layer of tantalising silver,

0:55:020:55:06

'and look almost as good as the real thing.'

0:55:060:55:09

Silver had moved with the times,

0:55:110:55:14

from the favoured material for upper class luxury items

0:55:140:55:18

made by the finest craftsmen, to popular status symbols

0:55:180:55:23

for every man, from dining "a la Francaise," to dining "a la Russe."

0:55:230:55:29

And if the rise of silver had been dramatic, so was its fall,

0:55:290:55:35

and that fall was fast.

0:55:350:55:37

'Today, most people no longer have silver on their dining tables.

0:55:380:55:43

'So what happened to silver the moment we could all afford it?'

0:55:430:55:47

You could argue that it was electric light which essentially drove silver

0:55:490:55:53

from its pre-eminent place, because candles have the wonderful effect

0:55:530:55:57

of bringing out the ripples in silver, bringing out the handiwork.

0:55:570:56:00

Electric light is a flat light,

0:56:000:56:02

and so there's no longer that mystery and that flattering glow.

0:56:020:56:06

Sheffield plate, initially,

0:56:060:56:08

and then electroplating in the mid-19th century,

0:56:080:56:12

brought down the cost but also reduced silver's status.

0:56:120:56:15

So it was no longer smart.

0:56:150:56:17

If your butcher, baker, candlestick maker

0:56:170:56:19

could have what appeared to be silver on the table,

0:56:190:56:22

why would grand families think it was part of their status any more?

0:56:220:56:26

'New objects of desire began to tempt the social elite.'

0:56:280:56:33

I think ceramics and glass

0:56:330:56:35

were great competitors for silver in the 19th century.

0:56:350:56:42

They were coming up with colourful styles,

0:56:420:56:45

so you would get different patterns.

0:56:450:56:47

I think it was about colour at this period.

0:56:470:56:49

'And silver couldn't really compete with cheaper modern materials.'

0:56:560:57:00

Today, of course, the easy availability

0:57:000:57:04

of cutlery in stainless steel

0:57:040:57:06

has, for the most part, replaced the use of silver flatware.

0:57:060:57:11

'As I return to Dunham Massey,

0:57:200:57:22

'home of the 2nd Earl of Warrington's silver collection,

0:57:220:57:26

'it's clear that a huge part of the metal's fall from favour

0:57:260:57:30

'was the change in Britain's class society.'

0:57:300:57:32

In the early 20th century, many country houses like this

0:57:370:57:41

struggled to afford the servants needed to keep them running smoothly.

0:57:410:57:46

Silver needs a lot of work to keep clean.

0:57:460:57:50

It's an act of love or a job you're paid to do.

0:57:500:57:54

Sadly, many country houses simply couldn't afford to keep their silver.

0:57:540:57:59

'Today, all these fine houses, museums and factories

0:58:000:58:05

'reveal an obsession with a precious metal

0:58:050:58:08

'that was once a mainstay of British society.'

0:58:080:58:12

Fortunately, collectors like the 2nd Earl of Warrington

0:58:140:58:18

allow us a tantalising glimpse into the shimmering world of silver.

0:58:180:58:23

The stuff of dreams.

0:58:230:58:24

A love affair that utterly gripped the British for centuries.

0:58:240:58:29

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