ADAM'S - SILVER FROM THE COLLECTION OF JIMMY WELDON May 16th 2017 (Click Lot title for more images and to Place Bid)

uesday

with bright cut star terminal and engraved with initials, (c.188.6g). 35cm long

€ 1,000 - 1,500

JaneWilliams, Goldsmith, Silversmith & Jeweller; third daughter (baptised 27th June 1773) of CardenTerry & Catherine

Webb; married JohnWilliams (q.v.), of Cork 6th August 1791; after his death she continued the business in Grand Parade

in association with her father; many gold and silver assays in Dublin 1808-22; she died 17th April 1845. (Bowen and

O’Brien, 2005 pp180-186)

Female silversmiths have until recently been largely written out of the history of silver making in Ireland and Britain.With

the exception of the highly prolific Hester Bateman, very little has been published about the work of these fascinating

craftswomen.As with all decorative arts the skill of the item should be sufficient in justifying the importance of these wom-

en but unfortunately their talent has been largely excluded from texts dedicated to Georgian silversmiths.An awareness of

what must have been an immense struggle for recognition and support of their work, alongside their male counterparts, is

paramount.A common issue with promoting the reputation of female silversmiths is that they often worked in partnership

with men, either husbands or fathers, and as a result it is difficult to ascertain, through misappropriation or otherwise, who

was the true maker of the item.An issue such as this arises when confronted with the work of Cork silversmiths Carden

Terry and his daughter JaneWilliams (1771-1845) who worked with her father and husband in the late 18th century. Jane

was married on 6 August 1791 in St Peter’s Church, Cork, to her father’s apprentice, JohnWilliams (1771–1806), who en-

tered into partnership as a silversmith with CardenTerry in 1795.Terry himself was born in 1742, to a notable Cork family

and was apprenticed in 1758, setting up shop on at Main Street in 1765. His early work bore the mark CT, usually with the

word ‘STERLING’, though technically not a hallmark it was normal for provincial Irish items.

Up until the late 17th century silver items were mostly reserved for the church and the extremely wealthy.This began

to change when silver prices dropped and for the first time the middle class could afford silver household objects.The

trade had to adapt to the change from large ornate royal and ecclesiastical works to simple functional pieces.To meet this

growing market wives and other female relatives of silversmiths were brought into the trade. Many of these women were

hands on in the trade with younger girls brought in to finish and burnish the pieces.The silversmiths were extremely

protective of their trade so they imposed a fine on anyone who brought a woman into the business that was not a close

relative.Although women would have served their apprenticeship they would then have to work under their husband’s

mark.They would only be in a position to register their mark when their husband died. Jane, who lived at Grand Parade,

Cork, continued business as a silversmith after both the death of her husband in 1806 and that of her father in 1821. She

holds the distinguished position of being the most well-known and prolific Irish female silversmith working in the late 18th

and early 19th century.

1795:Society of the United Irishmen members includingTheobald WolfeTone and Henry Joy McCracken meet at Cavehill to the north of Belfast.