Cleveland Museum of Art

Trophy Cup and Cover

Peter Bateman

Date

1792–1793

Medium

silver gilt

Culture

England, 18th century

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Silver fulfilled a prominent role in projecting wealth, status, power, and ritual in British life during the 1600s and 1700s. Elaborate forms such as this trophy, with its swags of flowers, neoclassical rosettes, acanthus spears, and acorn finial, 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 this 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. The graceful form of this trophy by Peter Bateman and his sister-in-law Anne Dowling Bateman is reminiscent of the elegant designs produced by their mother Hester Bateman (1708–1794), one of the most celebrated female silversmiths of all time.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.