Pair of J. S. Hunt Assistant to P. Storr) Sterling Silver 1850 Covered Vegetable Dishes/ Bowls

John Samuel Hunt, English pair of sterling silver multi-lobed covered vegetable dishes from 1850 (Victorian era) adorned with curvilinear natural motifs. They measure 12'' by 12'' by 4 3/4'' in height, weigh 97 troy ounces, and bear hallmarks as shown. The exquisite design of these pieces is such that the so-called button at the top of the covered dishes is removable. This means that these covered dishes can easily become two bowls (four in total), each beautifully adorned with natural motifs, each measuring by 12'' by 11'' by 1 1/2'' in height. 

Hunt & Roskell, a firm of manufacturing and retail jewelers and silversmiths, was founded by Paul Storr in 1819, trading as Storr & Co. (1819-22), Storr & Mortimer (1822-38), Mortimer & Hunt (1838-43) and then Hunt & Roskell (1843-97). John Samuel Hunt, who had assisted Storr from the start, continued as a partner until his death in 1865, when he was succeeded by his son. 

Paul Storr (1770-1844) is considered the greatest English silversmith of the Regency era, and his beautifully ornate silver reflected the rapidly changing world in which he lived. Storr's reputation rests on his mastery of the grandiose neo-Classical style developed in the Regency period. He quickly became the most prominent silversmith of the nineteenth century, producing much of the silver purchased by King George III and King George IV. Much of Storr's success was due to the influence of Philip Rundell, of the popular silver retailing firm, Rundell, Bridge and Rundell.Rundell's firm nearly monopolised the early nineteenth-century market for superior silver and obtained the Royal Warrant in 1806. Pau Storr then launched his own firm, but, after only a few years of independence, Storr partnered with John Mortimer, founding Storr and Mortimer in 1822 on New Bond Street.

Items from Storr's workshops may be seen at Windsor Castle and during the summer opening season at Buckingham Palace. There are significant holdings of items in the National Silver Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum as well as in the Wellington Collection at Apsley House. Outside London there are important works at Brighton Pavilion, at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle and at Woburn Abbey. In the United States there are holdings of Paul Storr at the Huntington Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among others. “He is sometimes called the last of the goldsmiths,” according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2013, part of his Gladstone dinner service, sold for over 600,000 GBP at a Christie’s auction while a pair of his candelabra sold for more than 400,000 Euros at a Sotheby’s auction in 2022. 

Please feel free to ask us any questions, and please see our other listings. We hand polish all items before shipping them out, but if there is interest for a professional polishing and/or engraving removal, we can take care of that for an additional charge and with delayed shipping.