Beaker, one of a pair

Date1735-1736

Maker Gabriel Sleath

MediumSilver (Sterling); gold (silver-gilt)

DimensionsH: 3 7/8"; Diam (rim): 3 3/8"; Diam (base): 2 15/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1975-68,1

DescriptionSilver beaker, one of pair; engraved with the arms of Gooch impaling Stanton for William Gooch (1681-1751), lieutenant governor of Virginia (1727-1749), and his wife Rebecca Stanton (d. 1775).Label TextWilliam Gooch acquired these handsome beakers during his long and congenial term in Williamsburg as lieutenant governor of Virginia (1727-49). Unfortunately, no documentary evidence has been found that would reveal the occasion for Gooch's purchase of the beakers. There is, however, a hint as to his holdings in a letter of March 3, 1744, to his brother Thomas, then bishop of Norwich. In proposing the marriage of his widowed daughter-in-law to his brother's elder son, he wrote: "My Furniture[,] and I have a great stock of all sorts, as well as a large Quantity of Plate, with my Equipage, as Coach, Chaise, Horses &c. are ready to equip an Inheritor, where as they could not be sold, without great loss."

Lady Gooch specified in her will of 1775: "as a small token of my Remembrance to the place of his education [her only son William (1716-1742)] I give to William and Mary College in Virginia my Gilt Sacrament Cup and put in a Red Leather case and a large FoIl: Bible of Fields bound in four volumes." This exquisite silver-gilt two-handled covered cup of domestic form of 1686/87 by Pierre Harache, Sr., of London, and a silver-gilt paten of 1751/52 by Richard Gurney of London, both impaled with the engraved arms of her parents, William Stanton and Margaret Gavell of Hampton, Middlesex, were transferred from the College to Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg in 1905.

Gabriel Sleath also fashioned the communion cup, flagon, paten, and alms dish, which are inscribed: "The Gift ~The HON:BLE IOHN CUSTIS ESQ:R [1678-1749] of Williamsburg to the Upper Church of Hungar's Parish in Northampton County 1742."

The substantial body of each of these beakers was forged from a single billet, the rim incised and the drawn and seamed foot-ring applied.

A beaker engraved with the arms of the Randolph family of Virginia is also in the collection (CWF accession 1972-335).Inscription(s)Arms of Gooch impaling Stanton for William Gooch (1681-1751), then of
Williamsburg, Virginia, and his wife, Rebecca Stanton (d. 1775), married in 1714, engraved on the face of each body.Mark(s)Fully marked on underside of each base.ProvenanceSotheby Parke Bernet South Africa, Johannesburg
Vendor: Thomas Lumley Ltd, London
Acquired by CWF in 1975