A pair of George IV silver gilt wine ewers. 
William Elliott, 
London, 1828 and 1829. 
Applied...

A very similar ewer by William Elliott can be seen in the Waddesdon Rothschild Collection (Accession no. 11.2002.1): https://waddesdon.org.uk/the-collection/item/?id=10851&srsltid=AfmBOoq32Enwx0CVgqdX544FqO7oB_lovJ6TWyVxuW057_uaPA4bwUsf . It is engraved with a different coat of arms and motto.

The two ewers in this lot are engraved with the crest of Forbes, as officially used by the branch of Skelleter (Scotland). However, other branches of the Forbes family may also have used this crest.

Several items of Chinese Export porcelain in David Sanctuary Howard’s book Chinese Armorial Porcelain (Faber & Faber Ltd., 1974 and 2003) feature the same crest as that visible on these ewers, combined with one of two mottos: ‘Audentior ito’ (unrecorded) or ‘Solus inter plurimos’.

Notes on these mottos:

‘Audentor ito’: The crest of Forbes (a hand holding a dagger erect on it’s point a bear’s head couped proper) in conjunction with the motto ‘Audentior ito’ is found on a Chinese porcelain plate dated c.1810 (X3, pg. 782 Vol. 1). David Sanctuary Howard writes that: This is probably the crest and motto of Forbes of Skellater. Charles, the youngest son of John Forbes of Inverarnan (who died in Carlisle Prison of wounds in 1715), was killed at the storming of Ticonderoga in 1758. His only son was James Forbes, of Kingerloch and Hutton Hall in Essex, born in 1756 and died in 1829, who married twice and had five sons and eight daughters, and of whom the third son, Alexander, was in the East India Service in Bengal.

Sanctuary Howard goes on to say that: This service could also have been made for the family of George Forbes, a merchant of Aberdeen, whose brother was a merchant in London. He bore the same coat as Forbes of Skellater, but his crest is not recorded. Of his five sons, William was a doctor in Jamaica, David a captain in the H.E.I.C. (Honourable East India Company) Service and later Governor of the Island of Ternate, James also an East India Company captain, and John a captain in the Navy […] later buying Winkfield Place, near Windsor.

Solus inter plurimos: The crest of Forbes in conjunction with the motto ‘Solus inter plurimos’ is found on three pieces of Chinese porcelain featured in David Sanctuary Howard’s book Chinese Armorial Porcelain (Vol. 1 and 2). These comprise: two small Qianlong bowls dated c.1795  (W5, pg. 613 Vol 2. and W11, Vol. 2) and a Qianlong toilet jar c. 1785 (T3, Vol. 2). Sanctuary Howard writes that the owners of these pieces ‘all descend from George Forbes of Skellater, and his son, William who took this motto on joining the Covenanters’ army against the King in the 1640s. He left three sons and many grandsons and great-grandsons, one of whom was John Forbes […]. Born in 1733, he joined the army at an early age and became a soldier in Portugal, marrying there and becoming Adjutant General of the Portuguese Army – later commanding against the French (without success). He went to Brazil with Queen Maria Pia and became Governor of Rio de Janeiro, dying there in 1808 (pg. 613).

Efforts to identify the former of the owners of these ewers can only be speculative. However, two possible descendants of the Forbes of Skellater family to whom these silver gilt ewers may be connected include:

• Alexander, 5^th Laird of Inverernan (1775-1830). He was responsible for greatly rebuilding and expanding the family home of Inverernan House in 1828, so he or one of his descendants may have had the means at that time to purchase or commission these ewers (dated 1828 and 1829). Alexander had a son (also called Alexander, d.1827 aged 15) and a daughter (Catharine Anne Buchan, d.1835).
• A descendent of General John ‘Ian Roy’ Forbes (1733-1808) of Skellater (as described by David Sanctuary Howard above). John Forbes was also known as ‘Red Jock o’ Skellater, from the Gaelic Ian Roy). The crest on these ewers is identical to that on John Forbes’ tomb in Rio de Janeiro and he had a number of children who may also have used this crest. John Forbes was the second son of George Forbes, 5^th Laird of Skellater, who was a devoted and active Jacobite.