Important South African & International Art, Decorative Arts & Jewellery
Live Auction, 10 October 2016
English, Continental, Oriental and Cape Silver, Furniture and Decorative Arts
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About this Item
A Cape silver inkstand, John Willcox, Grahamstown, 1877
the rectangular stand embellished with a border of ivy leaves on four bifurcated trunk feet, fitted with a pair of glass inkwells flanking a pollarded tree engraved 'Manufactured by JS WILLCOX, Grahamstown', the front applied with a presentation shield-shaped plaque engraved 'Presented To E. CHAPMAN. ESQ. AS A TOKEN OF ESTEEM BY G. FRANCIS. GRAHAMSTOWN MAY 28th. 1877', 375g of weighable silver, 21cm wide
Notes
Edward George Chapman was born and bred in Grahamstown. Like many men of the late 1800s, he was a trader and hunter by profession and exploring Africa was an obsession. Edward was well known in the interior of Southern Africa. The Chapman brothers, Edward and James, were involved in an encounter with Kalahari bushmen who captured their cattle. In 1858 he rescued two Boer women who were taken captive and the missionary, Rev Robert Moffat, recounted his bravery in his book, The lives of Robert and Mary Moffat.
George Francis was also a Grahamstown trader and a friend of Chapman. The gift of the inkwell may have been as a result of their business arrangement as well as friendship.
From an email dated 21 August 2014 from Fleur Way-Jones, 1820 Settlers Association Genealogist, Curator Emeritus, History Museum, Albany Museum Complex, Grahamstown
Literature
cf. Stephan Welz. (1976) Cape Silver and Silversmiths, Cape Town: AA Balkema. Page 74 where a comparative example is discussed and illustrated.
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