Cup presented by Thames Navigation & Port of London Committee, 1858.

Cup presented by Thames Navigation & Port of London Committee, 1858.

Two-handled cup and cover, which appears to have been designed as a yachting trophy, the cover being a later addition at the time of the inscription (by Hands & Son of London, 1857-58).

The scrolled handles are formed as dophins (the tail of one has been restored). The cup and cover are decorated with flowers and leaves, and the domed cover has a lion finial.

On one side of the body is an engraving of two cutters racing, cheered on by figures in a rowing boat waving their hats. There is a later inscription on the other side within a masked cartouche: 'Thames Navigation & Port of London Committee RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY THAT THIS COMMITTEE FEEL MUCH PLEASURE in tendering TO JONATHAN THORP ESQr the expression OF THEIR CORDIAL THANKS FOR HIS ABLE CONDUCT in presiding over them as chairman DURING THE PAST YEAR for the Upright and Judicious manner in which he has guided the business and his conscious anxiety to fulfil the desires AND MAINTAIN THE CHARACTER OF THE COMMITTEE AND THE MEMBERS HAVE GREAT PLEASURE in adding their warm acknowledgments FOR HIS UNIFORM COURTESY AND ATTENTION. 1858'.

Another cup of similar shape, also without a cover, for Kinsale Harbour Regatta, by Kean Mahony of Cork, Dublin 1830 was sold at Sotheby's in 1979.

Object Details

ID: PLT0259
Collection: Decorative art
Type: Cup
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Hands & Son; Mahony, Kean
Date made: 1831-1832; 1831-32
People: Thames Navigation & Port of London Committee; Thorp, Jonathan
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Overall: 350 x 330 x 180 mm
Parts: Cup presented by Thames Navigation & Port of London Committee, 1858.