This cup and cover started life plain and remained so until it came into the hands of the extraordinary silversmith Edward Farrell who undertook the extensive redecoration, either to make the cup appeal to the tastes of the early 19th century or perhaps as a special commission.

While he has not marked any of his additions, Farrell's hallmark appears none the less all over the cup in elements such as the cast handles, which are nearly identical to the handle on a tankard by Farrell, see A. Phillips and J. Sloane Antiquity Revisited English and French Silver and Silver-Gilt From the Audrey Love Collection, London, 1997, p.78. That tankard also shows a similar treatment of the engraved foliage on the cover of the present cup. The putto and satyrs which people the rim can be compared to a pair of dishes of 1825, see M. Clayton, The Christie's Pictorial History of English and American Silver, Oxford, 1985, p. 258, pl. 2. Perhaps most interesting though is the distinctive rococo revival foot which is similar to that on a ewer which was made by Thomas Holland in 1807 and redecorated by Farrell around the same time as this cup, see Christie's London, 1 December 2005, lot 365.

Edward Farrell's greatest successes as a silversmith came during his time working for the London retailer and antiquarian Kensington Lewis, who is perhaps best known as a supplier to the great 19th century collector the Duke of York whose collection was sold at Christie's in 1827. Indeed Farrell's masterpiece, the Hercules Attacking the Hydra Centerpiece, was made for the Duke in 1824, and recently sold at Christie's, London, 22-23 March 2017, lot 200, from the collection of Robert de Balkany.