Dessert plates from the Kedleston Service

The silver dinner service associated with Kedleston is outstanding both for the rarity and sophistication of its design and for its carefully considered integration into the architectural schemes of James ‘Athenian’ Stuart and Robert Adam for Sir Nathaniel Curzon’s new dining room. The 12 plates display the banding of interlacing rosettes and leaves that defines the Kedleston service and is so unusual on silver of the period. The centre of each plate is engraved with the arms of Curzon impaling Colyear for Sir Nathaniel Curzon and his wife Lady Caroline Colyear. This service will compliment the two drawings by Robert Adam of the plate display in the niche of the Kedleston Dining Room which are already in the collection at Kedleston Hall.