Magnificent Twenty-Two Piece Silver-Gilt Dressing Table Service

A magnificent silver-gilt dressing table service.

It is comprised of a huge mirror, a pair of large caskets, scent holders, clothes brushes, a ewer and baisin, a pin cushion, a pair of candlesticks and a candle snuffer on stand. With the various other containers, there are an incredible twenty-two pieces in total.

Each piece is basically plain, with gardoon borders. The large caskets each stand on four ball feet. One of the square perfume holders has an original glass perfume bottle inside.

Each piece is engraved with the coat of arms of the Duke of Westminster.

This is an amazing service. It is the largest one we have ever seen. We think it is based on a late seventeenth century dressing table service made by Anthony Nelme.  The design and the range of pieces are broadly similar. 

Our service was made as a special commission for the then Duchess of Westminster, the former Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West.  She was the first wife of the Second Duke of Westminster. Their marriage was rather turbulent -- neither was faithful to the other -- and they divorced in 1919. We assume that she took the service with her when she left the family.   In 1920, the former Duchess married her private secretary, Captain James Lewes, in Hampshire.

This magnificent silver-gilt dressing table service was made in 1916/7 by L A Crichton of London. He specialised in lavish reproductions of top Georgian silver.