Admiral Lord Nelson’s Birthday Service, 1798

This outstanding dinner service was a gift to Admiral Lord Nelson from Sir William and Lady Hamilton. It is of English, probably Coalport, manufacture decorated in Naples for Nelson’s 40th birthday on 29 September 1798. Each of the twenty-seven pieces is painted in the centre, after designs by Baron de Fages Vaumale (see page 29), with a fouled anchor between palm branches surmounted by a naval coronet and initials HN, the border further painted with trailing oak leaves and with occasional sepia panels depicting views of Alexandria, Aboukir Bay and other Mediterranean scenes, probably after sketches by Cooper Willyams (see page 31). Some of the dishes are painted on the reverse with a black initial H or gilt M.

Estimation:-

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