William Beckford, the celebrated art collector, connoisseur and gentleman architect, is remember amongst his many achievements for his extraordinary gothic commission Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, designed in collaboration with the architect James Wyatt, which was completed externally by 1812. The present exotic tea bowl formed part of the many silver commissions intended to furnish this gothic monument. They came from leading retailers such as the Royal Goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge and Rundell and from a select group of craftsmen silversmiths which included James Aldridge, John Robbins, John Harris and William Burwash. Michael Snodin discussed Beckford's extensive silver commissions in forensic detail in his two part article published in the Connoisseur Magazine, op. cit., 1980. He records seven works by Burwash to which this bowl can be added.

The form and ornament of the present bowl is based on a Chinese enamelled porcelain or metal bowl of the Ch'ien-Lung period (1736-1795). Both the shape and the decoration of engraved peony motif on the bowl's exterior is inspired by the Chinese original. The interior motifs are heraldic, being the cinquefoil badge borne by the Dukes of Hamilton. The design for the piece would almost certainly have been created under the direction of Beckford, perhaps with the supervision of his great friend Gregorio Franchi (1769-1828). Evidence of the close collaboration between patron, designer and craftsman can be seen in the album of drawings and drawings, now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A E 1-89-1972).

William Burwash's first mark was entered in partnership with Richard Sibley in 1805. He later entered his own mark in 1812. His first known surviving work created for Beckford's Fonthill dates to the same year as the present bowl. Burwash provided the central engraved plaque for a magnificent Saracenic inspired heraldic sideboard dish dish, which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (M.47-1980). The dish is adorned with heraldic devices; the Douglas mullet, the Latimer cross and the Beckford martlet all interwoven into the strapwork pattern which is engraved across the dish, whilst the Hamilton cinquefoil, so prominent on the present lot, decorates the inner border.

In 1817 Burwash provided Beckford with a silver-gilt waiter or tazza (sold Woolley and Wallis, 27 January 2010, lot 1006, £2,600,which Snodin describes and having baluster stem and the foot engraved with stylized snakes in wriggle work, and in the same year a pair of waiters with the heraldic Hamilton badge on the cinquefoil ermine in the centre, sold Woolley and Wallis, 27 January 2010, lot 1005, £36,000. A year later he created a pair of wall sconces which are now displayed at Brodick Castle, Snodin, op. cit., 1980, part 1, fig.

Financial difficulties forced Beckford to sell Fonthill Abbey and disperse the majority of the contents in an auction held by Phillips over many days in 1822. He took many of his most prized possessions with him to Bath where he moved, first to Great Pulteney Street and then Lansdown Crescent. He later created the Lansdown Tower as a writing retreat from 1826 onwards and it was here that he was to spend his final years. It is in the inventory complied on Beckford's death that the bowl is first recorded. The inventory was published in M. Snodin and M. Baker, op. cit., p. 834. It included a large quantity of silver and silver mounted porcelain. Fortunately the silver inventory is relatively detailed for plate lists of the time. It described the present lot a one of four '...sugar basins (4), Richly engraved and chased. Small Parlour' 54oz.'

Sales followed Beckford's death, however, again many of his prized possessions were saved from the saleroom and were inherited by his daughter Susanna Euphemia, Duchess of Hamilton (1786-1858) wife of Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852). These works remained at the Hamilton's Scottish seat Hamilton Palace, until sales held by the Trustees of the 12th Duke of Hamilton, first in 1882 and later in 1919 when the present lot and a companion piece, slightly larger, finally left the family.