James Shruder

A George II silver Basket, made in London 1738

Length: 13 inches (33cm)
Weight: 51ozs.

The oval basket has a pierced rim foot with moulded edge, the flaring sides are pierced with scrolls and trelliswork, with a shaped shell and foliate scroll border and a plain swing handle. The centre of the base is engraved with a coat of arms within a rococo cartouche.

It is uncertain where James Schruder was born although it is likely that it was Germany and there are no details of his early career and apprenticeship. He entered his first mark in 1737 with an address in Wardour Street and subsequently had a workshop off Leicester Square. In 1749 he was declared bankrupt but appeared as a witness to Paul de Lamerie’s will which was dated 1751. In 1763 he was recorded as “Shrouder, James, Modeller and Papier Mache Manufacturer, Great Marlborough Street, Carnaby market (James Lomax and James Rothwell, Country House Silver from Dunham Massey, 2006, p. 164). Arthur Grimwade (London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, their marks and lives, 1982, p. 658) describes his work as “some of the finest rococo plate of the day” and the finest of his pieces have a great sculptural quality which is seldom found in silver of the period. His masterpieces are undoubtedly the extraordinary seahorse coffee pot of 1749 in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the hot water urn and stand of 1752 in the Folger Collection (Philippa Glanville, Patrons and Craftsmen, “Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth’s England”, 1984, pp. 117-8, nos. G26 and G27) and the tea kettle of 1749 now in the Gans Collection (Christopher Hartop, A Noble Feast, English Silver from the Jerome and Rita Gans Collection, 2007, p. 77, no. 38). Susan Hare suggested that he may have worked for de Lamerie as a modeller (Paul de Lamerie: The work of England’s Master Silversmith (1688-1751), 1990, p. 13).

Schruder’s mark appears on some of the finest piece supplied to George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington including a ‘Coffee Table ‘ of 1741 (Lomax and Rothwell, op. cit., pp. 88-92, no. 37) and a ‘Tea Table of the same year (pp. 133-3, no. 69) as well as a shaving set of 1744 (Charles Truman, The Glory of the Goldsmith, Magnificent Gold and Silver from the Al-Tajir Collection, 1989, p. 122, no. 87) . A more flamboyant rococo basket by Schruder of 1741 engraved with the arms of Henry, 2nd Duke of Newcastle is at Temple Newsam (James Lomax, British Silver at Temple Newsam and Lotherton Hall, 1992, pp. 91-2, no. 82).