Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Dish, shaped oval with lobed edge; gadrooned rim and inner border of beading. Centre engraved with the arms of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn impaling Grenville, within a circular wreath of husks.

This group of dishes is from a 160-piece service commissioned by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn for his new house in St James’s Square, London. Many of the shapes were designed by Robert and James Adam, making it the largest and most important architect-designed service of the eighteenth century. The service has been dispersed but several pieces are now in the Museum’s collection. It was made up of sets of round and oval serving dishes, four tureens, twelve sauceboats, and four candelabra, as well as plates and salt cellars. It cost the then-massive sum of £2,408 18 shillings.