Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Casket, pale yellow silver gilt, rectangular bombe form, standing on four scrolling feet, the front and rear ornamented in relief with flowers and foliage issuing from a central shell, the sides similarly embossed with flowers and foliage, all within a scrolling frame, corners with matted and beaded acanthus scrolls; shallow domed cover, hinged at the back, the top embossed with flowers and foliage, the rim knurled and ornamented with four scallop shells, matted acanthus scroll terminating in a rib at each corner, engraved with the arms of Williams-Wynn impaling Somerset, pendant from a ribbon bow, and within palm fronds, motto Nec Me Nemi Nisse Pigebit.

This spectacular toilet service was given as a gift by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn’s mother to her new daughter-in-law, Henrietta Somerset, in 1768. Silver toilet services, comprising a mirror, candlesticks and boxes for jewellery and patches, became a symbol of rank and high status from the 1660s. They were displayed on dressing tables with rich lace covers. Thomas Heming was principal goldsmith to the King, and this service is similar to the one he had made two years earlier for the Queen of Denmark.