The Compton Verney Sideboard Dishes. An exceptionally fine pair of early George III Sideboard Dishes made in London in 1768 by Sebastian I & James Crespel.

The Dishes are circular in form with a shaped rim decorated with gadrooning.  The bowl rises up to a wide rim which is engraved with a contemporary Armorial accole, flanked by supporters with the coronet of a Baron above and the motto " Vertue Vaunceth - Virtue Prevails " engraved on a banner below.  The opposite side is engraved with a contemporary Crest, below the Coronet of a Baron.  The Dishes are in quite excellent condition and are of a very good weight and gauge.  They are well marked on the reverse and are engraved with their number in the dinner service and their original scratch weight.  The dishes are of a large size and could be used for serving a variety of things on the dining table, as well as canapes.  Due to their large size, when not in use they would have been placed on a sideboard as a status symbol.

The Armorial, Motto, Crest and Coronet are those of Verney, accole, with those of North.  They are therefore those of John Peyto-Verney, 14th Baron Willoughby de Broke and his wife Lady Louisa North.  He was born on 5th August, 1738 and succeeded to the title on the death of his uncle, Richard Verney, 13th Baron Willoughby de Broke, in 1752.  On 5th October 1751 he married Lady Louisa, daughter of Francis North, 1st Earl of Guildford, and sister to the Prime Minister, Lord North.  They had three children, John, Louisa and Henry.

One of his major interests was the re-building of his family seat, the magnificent Compton Verney House in Warwickshire during the period 1762-68.  He engaged the services of the fashionable architect Robert Adam, and Capability Brown to landscape the park and gardens in 1769.  He was elevated to the prestigious position of Lord of His Majesty's Bedchamber in 1763.  As these dishes are dated 1768, they are most likely to have been ordered during the extensive renovation of the house during this period.

In 1772, he inherited, from his cousin Margaret Peyto, valuable estates at nearby Chesterton.  His cousin made it a condition of her Will that he add the surname of Peyto to his own.  He died on 15th February 1816 and the title and estates passed to his eldest son, John.  The house and park fell into neglect and in 1993 it was rescued and fully restored by the Peter Moores Foundation and is now a famous art gallery.  A picture of the house is attached, as well as a painting by Zoffany, dated circa 1766, of the 14th Baron and his wife and children taking tea at Compton Verney.  This is now in the Getty Collection in Los Angeles.

Sebastian I & James Crespel were of Huguenot descent and occupied workshops in Whitcomb Street, Leicester Fields, 1762-1773, when these dishes were made.  They appear in workmen's ledgers as suppliers of plates and dishes which seems to have constituted their greatest output during their partnership.  Their work is always of the finest quality in terms of design and production.

Diameter: 13.1 inches, 32.75 cm

Weight: 73.5oz.