The Kirkleatham Centrepiece

This is the earliest surviving and complete example of an object which later became extremely fashionable and is sometimes known as a surtout or epergne. The brother and sister team of goldsmiths David Willaume and Anne Tanqueray, who had adjoining premises in St James's Street in London, made it in 1731. They were Huguenots, or French Protestants, whose father had emigrated to England at the turn of the century to avoid religious persecution and the recession caused by Louis XIV's wars. Their original client for this centrepiece was probably the fifth Earl of Coventry, but it was acquired soon afterwards by the MP for York, Cholmley Turner of Kirkleatham.

Despite leaving France, the Huguenot craftsmen in England continued to keep abreast of French fashions and ideas of design which they transmitted to their English clients. The centrepiece was a new type of silver object, first seen at the French court, which contained a tureen, casters, cruets, candlesticks and small dishes intended for the centre of the dining table. The combination of the various different parts could be changed according to whether it was required for dinner or supper. In this example the quality of the baroque decoration, with its use of cast, chased and engraved classical ornament, is superb.

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