A London-decorated Paris dish from the 'Nelson Set Dessert Service', circa 1802
Of oval shape with a lobed rim, the border with brightly enamelled oak leaves and gilded acorns, reserving two panels of blue drapery and gilt inscriptions, the name 'Nelson' appearing twice, with 'San Josef' and '2nd April', the centre with the full arms of Horatio, Viscount Nelson, picked out in enamel colours and gilding over a lightly-printed outline, 27.2cm wide
Footnotes:
Provenance
Vice-Admiral Horatio, Lord Nelson
Emma, Lady Hamilton
Charles Wentworth Wass Collection, Phillips, 6 December 1995, lot 326

The much-quoted inventory, referred to here as the Trickey Inventory (and also known as the 'Merton Inventory') wasn't drawn up until circa 1813. By this time the house at Merton had been sold and the inventory was a list of Lady Hamilton's possessions, packed in crates and used as surety for loans to fend off her creditors. Listed among 'Plate China Glass &c. belonging to Lady Hamilton' are various named services, one of which is headed 'Nelson Set'. Below this heading is listed a Dessert Service and a Tea Service, both of which are fully itemised.

These are some of the china sets that were used at Merton by Lady Hamilton, her many guests and, occasionally, by Lord Nelson when he wasn't away at sea. Among the listed services, the Inventory identifies the Horatia Set (which was of Chamberlain's manufacture), the Nelson Set (the present lot) and the Baltic Set (a related design but without Nelson's arms). The Nelson Set dessert service comprised '2 Ice Pails with linings and Covers, 2 Sugar Tureens, 1 Centre Dish, 4 Dishes (oval) and 4 Ditto (round)', as well as 26 Plates. A separate Nelson tea service is also listed.

The present lot is therefore one of the four oval dishes from the Nelson Set dessert service. The Nelson Set is traditionally believed to have been presented to Nelson in 1802 by the City of London. In that year Nelson was invited to ride in the Lord Mayor's coach in the inaugural procession of the Lord Mayor. Nelson's niece, Charlotte watched the procession and wrote to her mother...'I wish you could have seen all the people jumping up to the carriage to see my uncle and the thousands of people round him looking up at him... All the ladies had their handkerchiefs out of the windows when my uncle passed, they and the people calling out 'Nelson for Ever''.

It is likely that the set was commissioned from a London china shop with its own decorating workshop. The Coalport factory was the main supplier of 'blanks' used by London decorators and the accompanying 'Nelson' tea service is indeed Coalport porcelain. Some of the London decorators preferred to use the pure white porcelain that was imported, (or smuggled in) from Paris, and it is this high-quality white Paris porcelain that was used for the Nelson dessert service. We'll never know if Nelson was aware that he was celebrating his victory over the French by dining off the finest French porcelain.

Any set commissioned for a single banquet was usually made in quite a hurry to be ready in time. This is possibly the reason that a printed outline was used for the armorial decoration. Nelsons arms and insignia on this dish, and on the following lots, were created by hand-painting on top of a light outline print. This use of a printed guide identifies this dish as an authentic part of the Nelson Set. Most of the copies of the Nelson Set, made in France a hundred years later, were free-hand painted and thus can be easily distinguished from the genuine survivors from this most sought-after set.

Although the 1813 inventory listed the china as belonging to Lady Hamilton, it seems that much of the Nelson Set was reclaimed by other members of Nelson's family. Some was inherited by Nelson's niece, Charlotte, Duchess of Bronte, who had married Samuel Hood, Baron Bridport. On his death in 1868 the china passed to his son, Alexander Nelson, Viscount Bridport. What remained of the Nelson Set tea service was sold in Lord Bridport's sale at Christie's in July 1895, although the Bridport sale did not include any dessert wares. This oval dish of Paris porcelain was in the Wentworth Wass Collection, sold by Phillips on 6 December 1995, lot 326. Charles Wentworth Wass had been a buyer at the Bridport sale and he probably bought other items directly from Viscount Bridport.