HESTER BATEMAN. A most unusual George III Box, of large size, most probably for Tobacco or for use as a Table Snuff Box. Made in London in 1783 by Hester Bateman.

The Box is modelled in a large oval form with a reeded base and cover.  The sides are beautifully engraved with bright cut blue-bell swags and flower head details, as well as prick dot wavy bands and linear panels.  The pull off cover displays a beautiful outer band of raying flower heads in ovals, flanked by trailing foliate scrolls , all on a linear ground.  The centre is exceptionally engraved with a contemporary Armorial, with Motto below and the coronet of a baron above.  The Arms are flanked, on each side, with very finely detailed female supporters dressed as Greek Goddesses one holding an arrow with a serpent coiled around it and one holding a cornucopia of fruit.  The engraving has been executed to the highest standard and is in very crisp condition.  This piece has a plain base and when opened displays a full set of marks in the base and the maker’s mark and sterling mark on the cover.  Hester Bateman did not make very many boxes during her career.

The Provenance is also very important as the Armorial Motto and Coronet are those of Curzon impaling Colyear, for Nathaniel, 1st Baron Scarsdale ( 1726-1804).  Curzon was elected in 1747 as Member of Parliament for Clitheroe, holding the seat until 1754, when he took over his father's seat for Derbyshire. In 1758 he succeeded his father to the baronetcy and the fabulous Kedleston Hall and in 1761 was created Lord Scarsdale. He later served as Chairman of Committees in the House of Lords. 

Curzon had started work on the development of Kedleston Hall before he inherited, having employed the landscape gardener William Emes to replace the formal water features with natural lakes. In 1759 he commissioned the rebuilding of the house, designed in the Palladian style by the architects James Paine and Matthew Brettingham. Robert Adam was designing some garden temples to enhance the landscape of the park at the time and Curzon was so impressed with Adam's designs that Adam was quickly put in charge of the construction of the new mansion. A painting of Baron Scarsdale and his wife Lady Caroline is shown painted by Nathaniel Hone the Elder in 1761.  Kedleston Hall is considered one of the finest house in England and an image is also shown, together with the dining room where the box may have been used.

The box is in excellent condition and considering its size and weight, it has a length of 5 inches, a width of 3.75 inches, and a height of 1.45 inches.  With reference to its weight, it weighs a very good 7.5oz.    It was purchased for $9,200 at Christie's in New York in their Important Silver and Objects of Vertu sale on 21st April 1998, lot 207.  The Christie's sale details are also attached.