THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLATEAU
The plateau, surtout or dormant in its present form originated in France towards the end of the 17th century, however, it followed a long tradition of table decoration stretching back to the medieval period. Placed along the centre of a dining table the plateau performed both a decorative and utilitarian function. In 1698, the fashionable French publication, Mercure Galant, reported on a reception given by King Louis XIV's brother, Monsieur, in honour of the English Ambassador. The description of the scene mentions a large silver-gilt surtout as a recent innovation. Made up of a number of sections, it remained on the table throughout the meal. It was garnished with figural sculptures and numerous objects to be used during the dinner, presumably condiment vases and cruets. This ensured ‘one can wish for nothing necessary for a meal, that one does not find there’. G. Mabille, Versailles et les tables royales en Europe, XVIIème - XXème siècles, Paris, 1994, p. 98.
Juliette Niclausse credits the famous French bronzier Pierre-Philippe Thomire with the development of the Empire plateau in her book Thomire. Fondeur-Ciseleur (1751-1843). Sa Vie-Son Oeuvre, Paris, 1947, p. 129. Assembled in sections, typically with a gallery enclosing the ends and sides and with a mirrored glass surface it allowed accessories used during dinner to be placed upon it. Moreover, the mirrored surface reflected the light from the candles burning in the candlesticks or candelabra placed upon the plateau. French examples were more often in ormulu, however, once the form became part of the oeuvre of the English silversmiths working in the Empire style, in celebration and imitation of the taste of the Prince Regent, in rare instances silver-gilt examples were produced. These usually had mirrored surfaces, unlike the present surtout, which is entirely made of silver-gilt.
ABSTAINANDO KING (1764-1833)
Little is known about the silversmith Abstainando King, maker of the present plateau. Born in 1764 to Peter and Ann King of Long Alley, Shoreditch, he was baptised in St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch. There is no record of his apprenticeship nor his freedom of the Goldsmiths’ Company, however, he registered his first mark on 8 February 1791. He did become a freeman of his father’s livery company, the Curriers’ Company, in 1803.
In 1806, he was registered as a small worker working at 10 Berkly Street, Clerkenwell, London. He was still active in 1821. He took at least two apprentices; Joshua William Storey in 1795 and James P. Davis in 1803. He married Margaret Bath at St. Dunstan’s Church, Stepney on 29 April 1787. Their children James and John and Elizabeth were all baptised at St. James’s Clerkenwell. On his death in 1833 the burial records of St. John’s Church Clerkenwell, where he was interred, list his home as Red Lion Street.
The majority of his recorded surviving works are relatively small in scale, in contrast to the size of the present lot, which suggests he could have commissioned a specialist maker and then marked the piece with his own sponsor’s mark.