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Dish or basin, pale yellow silver gilt, oval, with spreading sides and everted rim; engraved in the centre with the arms of Williams-Wynn impaling Somerset, pendant from a ribbon bow, and within palm fronds, motto Nec Me Nemi Nisse Pigebit, all within an elaborate oval cartouche of foliate scrolls and husks, knurled rim ornamented in high relief at the four corners with foliate scrolls, flowers and foliage, including reeds, the sides chased with matted panels, tongues and willow tails.

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.