Spalding museum brings home the cup

Description:

Spalding's Ayscoughfee Hall Museum has bought a Quuen Anne silver-gilt cup and cover at auction thanks to a grant of £19,500 from the Art Fund.

The 18th century artefact is highly significant to the museum and to Spalding, as it links back to the Johnson family who once owned the Hall and made a significant contribution to Lincolnshire's public life.

Councillor Nick Worth, Portfolio holder for Rural Services, said: "This is fantastic news for the museum. Ayscoughfee Hall is clearly the most appropriate place for this cup, and we're delighted to have acquired something with such close links to the district and the Johnson family.

"The museum's staff are to be commended for their work on this project.

"I'd also like to say a big thank you to The Art Fund for working with us and allowing us to bring the cup home."

Andrew Macdonald, deputy director of The Art Fund, said: "We are delighted to have given our first ever grant to Ayscoughfee Hall Museum, helping bring this important wedding cup back to its original home.

"The Johnson family's association with Spalding is still visible - the local hospital still bears their name, and their connection to Ayscoughfee is well known."

Dated 1712, the work was made by French-born goldsmith Pierre Platel. It is engraved with the coat of arms of the Johnson and Moore families, and may have been a wedding gift to Theophilus Fairfax Johnson (1790 - 1853) who was born in Ayscoughfee Hall, and his wife Millicent Anne Moore (1800 - 1881).

The two were married in 1821.

Staff from the Museum will be collecting the cup in the next few weeks, and hope to have it on display by the beginning of February.

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New teaching tools at Spalding museum

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"Astronomical" cost of Ayscoughfee weddings