Huguenot interest – Four rare George I silver dessert spoons, London circa 1715 probably by Jacques du Portail (b. c. 1648)

Hanoverian Pattern with rat tail heels. The terminals engraved with crests, three a lion rampant guardant crowned, the fourth a lion rampant. Each marked with maker’s mark only ID over P in a heart shaped punch. (4)

Length – 17.4 cm / 6.8 inches

Weight – 163 grams / 5.24 ozt

The strongest candidate for this mark is Jacques du Portail who died at St. Martin's Lane between 1715 and 1717 aged 68 see Evans, J., (1933). Huguenot Goldsmiths in England and Ireland in Huguenot Society. P. 549. Jacques du Portail ‘de Paris, Orfevre, St. Martin’s Lane, 68 ans’ as having been a recipient of Queen Anne’s Bounty, a Royal Charity, between 1715-1717.

However, a man of this name appears in the distribution list published in 1725, covering the amounts paid out ‘pour trois ans and trois mois finissant au 25 Decembre 1721’, when ‘Ja[c]ques Duportail et sa femme’ received payment of £10 4s 9d. The following line records payment to a Susanne du Portail of £7 6s 3d during the same period. This woman, apparently a different person from the wife of Jacques du Portail, also appears in a later distribution list of 1728, where she is described as ‘77 ans, Veuve, Prince-street, Piccadilly’ in receipt of £9 15s 0d.

A James du Portail, (b.c. 1687 – c. 1725) an engraver was probably a son of Jacques du Portail. James du Portail was married twice, firstly to Sarah Miles in 1708, and second to Frances or Françoise Harache (born 10^th January 1706), the daughter of the goldsmith Abraham Harache, on 25^th March 1722. The will of James du Portail, engraver, written in May 1725, names his executors as James Manners senior (the second husband of Jacques du Portail’s daughter Ann Catherine) and the goldsmith Paul de Lamerie.

A trefid dessert spoon, London 1693 bearing this maker's mark was sold Woolley and Wallis, How of Edinburgh, 30 Oct 2007, lot 88.

An engraved dognose sweetmeat fork bearing this mark is in the Yale University Art Gallery Collection, (1930.1397)

A dognose teaspoon with twisted stem, almost certainly bearing this mark, was offered Lawrence’s 5 July 2022, lot 78

An engraved dognose teaspoon bearing this mark, The Finial July/Aug 2022, lot 43, p. 19.

An engraved dognose teaspoon bearing this mark, The Finial Jan/Feb 2022, lot 93, p. 26.

It is likely that Jacques I du Portail was the silversmith owner of this mark used circa 1693-1717, and the later references are for James or Jacques II du Portail, his son and engraver.

(adapted and added to from Laurence Joyce / Luke Schrager, notes, The Finial Nov-Dev 2022, P.8-10)