Hanson cup and salver

Made by the master gold- and silversmiths, Julius Schomburgk and C.E. Firnhaber, and engraved by Joshua Payne, this cup and salver is one of the most outstanding known examples of colonial silver in the Australian Gothic Revival style. The makers, all of German extraction, were among the finest colonial South Australian designers working in gold and silver at the time. The elaborate Hanson cup & salver, c.1862, is a remarkable culmination of the talents of all three makers and was produced for Richard Davies Hanson (1805–1876), one of South Australia’s most prominent early citizens, on the occasion of his retirement from political life to take up the role of chief justice of South Australia, in 1862.

The cup features four shields along the pedestal, the shields featuring the Hanson family coat of arms. Above the shields sit a cap of maintenance with a merlin, a celebration of Hanson’s family and his illustrious career in service to the British crown. Elaborate gothic openwork in frosted silver is featured throughout the work. Justice sits on top of the cup, blindfolded, holding a sword and scale. The cup sits on a salver featuring similar openwork in frosted silver and bears the inscription, ‘Presented to Richard Davies Hanson, Esquire, by his friends, on retiring from political life to be Chief Justice of South Australia, to evidence their appreciation of his personal worth and talent, and especially the uprightness of his past career. Stabit conscius aequi. Adelaide, July 12. 1862’.

Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design