A GEORGE II SILVER BASKET

MARK OF AYME VIDEAU, LONDON, 1735

Details

Oval, the openwork sides chased with basket-weave motifs below the pierced scalloped rim, the plain swing handle engraved with a crest, the underside later engraved with a presentation inscription, marked underneath (handle unmarked)
12 1/8 in. (30.9 cm.) long
57 oz. 14 dwt. (1,795 gr.)
The inscription on the underside reads 'THE BRITISH IRON & STEEL FEDERATION TO GEORGE BINNEY, IN GRATEFUL AND PROUD RECOGNITION OF HIS WORK FOR THE FEDERATION IN SWEDEN, AND FOR THE SHIPS HE RECOVERED FOR ENGLAND FROM GOTTENBERG. 25 JANUARY 1941.'
Provenance

Presented to the Arctic explorer Sir (Frederick) George Binney, D.S.O. (1900-1972) by the British Iron and Steel Federation On 25 January 1941.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 2 June 1992, lot 187.
Lot Essay

SIR GEORGE BINNEY
Sir George Binney was educated at Eton College and Merton College, Oxford, having been awarded a scholarship to both institutions. Whilst an undergraduate he edited Isis, the university newspaper, and was asked to join the 1921 Oxford University Spitsbergen expedition. He later led both the 1923 Merton College Arctic Expedition and the 1924 Oxford University Arctic Expedition for which he was awarded the Back Award by the Royal Geographic Society, who would later also present hiM with the Patron's Medal in 1957. From 1926 to 1930 he worked in the Arctic for the Hudson's Bay Company.
On his return to England he was employed by the United Steel Companies to establish the company's representation in South America and Asia, which did with great panache and success. In December 1939 he became the representative in Sweden of the Iron and Steel Control department of the British Ministry of Supply, tasked with acquiring vital iron and steel needed for the war effort running the German blockade. He masterminded the various operations and was knighted in the 1941 Birthday Honours List. In his post war career as export director he concluded many successful contracts on behalf of the company. A letter to The Times after his death described him as 'a true Elizabethan: a merchant adventurer'. His step-son is the architectural historian and campaigner for the preservation of historic building Marcus Binney C.B.E.
TROMP L'OIEL BASKETS
The masterful chased basket-weave on this basket is almost identical to that seen on a basket by George Wickes of 1729, sold Christie's, London, 5 July 2000, lot 16. A similar basket by Aymé Videau, London, 1734, with a coat-of-arms engraved on a plain oval cartouche in the centre of the basket, is illustrated in V. Brett, The Sotheby's Directory of Silver 1600-1940, London, 1986, p. 204, fig. 877. The present basket differs in that it has an overhead swing handle, rather than the bracket handles on the examples cited above.