AN IMPORTANT AMERICAN SILVER TWO-HANDLED CUP AND COVER,Circa 1725, New York, maker's mark of Charles Le Roux. With acorn finial, stepped dome cover and scroll handles, on domed base; engraved on both sides with a crest and coat-of-arms, the rim with inscribed 'James & Mary Alexander', the thumbpiece of one handle monogramed J/M/A centering a rose - 45 oz. 4 dwt.; 11 1/4 in. high. Estimate $150,000-250,000
PROVENANCE
James and Mary Alexander, New York, c. 1725
William Alexander, Lord Stirling (1726-1783)
Thence by descent to the present owner
The only other known example of a two-handled cup by Charles Le Roux is in the Mabel Brady Garvan Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery. Both cups are the same size and share the same cut-card strap or leaf decoration on the covers and lower sections. The handles differ, however this was probably due to a stylistic up-date in order to reflect contemporary tastes. For a discussion of two-handled cups of this type, see Louise C. Beldon, The Magazine Antiques, December 1967 where specific mention is made of both cups, however, the whereabouts of the present example was unknown.
Charles Le Roux (1685-1745) was a Huguenot silversmith active in New York in the first half of the Eighteenth century. Examples of his work can be seen in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Museum of the City of New York, and the previously mentioned Mabel Brady Garvan Collection in the Yale University Art Gallery.
More than likely this cup was commissioned to celebrate a great event. It may have been made to commemorate the wedding of James and Mary purportedly in1721 or possibly the birth of a child.
