Comprising a ewer with flaring spout and neck issuing from a gadrooned band above a baluster-shaped body engraved with the Arms Royal, above a frieze depicting 'the Queen's Beasts' which represent the genealogy of the Queen, above a turned socle engraved "1952 - The Queen's Silver Jubilee - 1977" together with three pairs of goblets, each engraved with the royal arms and the same text, the stems in the form of the lion and the unicorn bearing the shields of Great Britain; sold together with three original fitted Garrard presentation boxes. (7).

Provenance: Property of a New York silver collector.

'The Queen's Beasts' was a limited series designed at Garrard in honor of the Queen's Jubilee in 1977. The ewer and goblets are based in their design on the ten heraldic statues commissioned by the British Ministry of Works from sculptor James Woodford representing the genealogy of Queen Elizabeth II, which stood in front of the temporary western annex to Westminster Abbey for the Queen's coronation in 1953.

Woodford based his designs upon a set of ten heraldic sculptures at Hampton Court Palace near London made 400 years ago for Henry VIII, now known as 'the King's Beasts.' Because the 'King's Beasts' represented the geneaolgies of Henry VIII and his wife Jane Seymour, they were deemed unsuitable for the Queen, and so, 'The Queen's Beasts' were based upon her own genealogy.

'The Queen's Beasts' are: The Lion of England, The Unicorn of Scotland, The White Greyhound of Richmond, The Yale of Beaufort, The Red Dragon of Wales, The White Horse of Hanover, The White Lion of Mortimer, The Griffin of Edward III, The Black Bull of Clarence, and The Falcon of the Plantagenets.

This lot is additionally accompanied by a copy of The Queen's Beasts: An account with new drawings of the heraldic animals which stood at the entrance to Westminster Abbey on the occasion of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, H. Stanford London, F.S.A. and The Hon. Sir George Bellew, K.C.V.O., F.S.A., Garter King of Arms, with illustrations by Edward Bawden, C.B.E., A.R.A., R.D.I. and Cecil Keeling (Newman Neame, London, 1953.