Art Collections Online
Date: 1733-1734
Media: silver gilt
Size: h(cm) : 37 x h(in) : 14 1/2 x weight (gr) : 4882,h
Acquired: 2005; with assistance of National Art Collections Fund / National Heritage Lottery Fund
Accession Number: NMW A 51569
Paul Crespin was a born into a Huguenot family that had probably settled in London during the mid 17th century. He set up his goldsmithing business in Soho in 1720, where he remained until 1759. This extraordinary cup is a lavish example of rococo design. The arms of its original owner have been replaced with those of William Lewis Hughes (1767-1835) of Kinmel Park in Denbighshire. Hughes ammased a considerable fortune from his copper mines on Anglesey and was created 1st Baron Dinorben in 1831. Hughes purchased the cup at a time when rococo design was enjoying a fashionable revivial.