ROBERT COOPER
Cooper (FL. 1670-1717), son of a Buckinghamshire yeoman William Cooper, was one of the most prominent English born silversmiths of his time. He was apprenticed to Thomas George in 1664 becoming free in 1670. Arthur Grimwade in his London Goldsmiths 1697-1837, London 1974, p. 472 suggests he worked independently from around 1675 becoming a member of the Livery of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1682. He appears in the accounts of the goldsmith banker Richard Hoare in 1685 for a number of articles for 'Esqr. Pepys', the great diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703). He became a prominent member of the Goldsmiths' Company, being appointed a member of the Court in 1693, a Warden in the years 1707, 1711 and 1712 and Prime Warden in 1717.

His recorded works are wide ranging in form and of the highest quality. He worked with Jacob Bodendick in his early years producing elements for larger toilet services, but he was soon creating some of the most important works of the time, including a magnificent wine cistern fashioned by him for the 8th Earl, later 1st Duke, of Rutland in 1681, which weighs just under 2,000 ounces. His other notable works include a pair of sideboard dishes and ewers of 1687 made for the M.P. Sir Cecil Bishopp 4th Bt. (1635-1705), of Parham Park, Sussex. The dishes are now in the Ashmolean Museum. A ewer and basin of 1681 by Cooper was given to the Corporation of Newcastle-upon-Tune for the use of the Mayor. Another parliamentary connection is the ewer and basin dating from 1691 and 1693, now in the collection of the National Museum of Wales, originally made for Sir John Trevor of Brynkinalt, co. Denbigh, Master of the Rolls and Speaker of of the House of Commons from 1689 to 1695. It was perhaps Cooper's parliamentary connections that led to him being commissioned to provide a ceremonial mace for the coronation of Queen Mary and King William in 1689, which remains in the Royal Collection (RCIN 31791).

A CONTINENTAL DESIGN
This toilet casket is an early example of the taste for 1670s French and Dutch design in English silver after the Restoration. This style of high relief embossed and chased scenes was introduced by goldsmiths such as Jacob Bodendick, who brought this north German technique to London. Bodendick worked closely with Robert Cooper, notably on a toilet service alos dated 1675 and 1676 sold by Christie's in New York in April 20, 2001, lot 345 and now in the Dallas Museum of Art.

The decorative scheme of scenic panels with borders of stylized foliage did not become popular in England until later in the century; in fact the first design book with these motifs was apparently not published in England until 1694. In that year, the engraver C. de Moelder published a book of patterns for toilet services which closely reflect the style of the present example (see John Hayward, "A William & Mary Pattern Book for Silversmiths," The Proceedings of the Silver Society, vol. II, no. 1, 1970, pp. 18-21.).