Lot 355
AN EDWARDIAN MATCHED EIGHT PIECE TEA SERVICE
R & W SORLEY, GLASGOW 1903/4
Auction: Day Two | Thursday 20 August from 10am | Lots 199 - 555
Description
Comprising kettle, teapot, water pot and another smaller, slop basin, twin-handled sugar basin, milk jug and fitted tray, all of elegant form, engraved crest and motto for the Connell family, the tray of moulded outline, fitted divots for each piece with rivets to the underside (8)
Dimensions
21cm high (spirit kettle), 216oz (combined)
Footnote
The Connell family were among the most distinguished shipbuilding dynasties on the River Clyde.
Charles Connell (1822–1894) established Charles Connell & Co. at Scotstoun, Glasgow in 1861 after serving as manager of Alexander Stephen & Sons. The family firm quickly earned an international reputation for the construction of elegant sailing ships before successfully adapting to the age of steam, producing high-quality merchant vessels, passenger ships and naval craft. Remaining under family management for more than a century, the yard launched over 500 vessels and was renowned for the exceptional standard of its workmanship. During the First World War the company made a significant contribution to Britain's war effort, constructing both merchant shipping and Admiralty vessels, and remained one of the leading Clyde shipbuilders until its incorporation into Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in 1968. The Connell family were therefore closely associated with Glasgow's emergence as one of the world's foremost centres of shipbuilding during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.