The part-matted oval base with chimera masks and raised on scroll feet, the shaped oval dish with raised crests and nymph figures to the openwork handles, supported by four putto, cast and chased overall with stylised foliate scrolls and beaded borders, engraved with a coat-of-arms with cast count's coronet above, the underside stamped 'R & S GARRARD / PANTON ST. / LONDON', marked to dish, figures and base
21¹⁄₂ in. (54.6 cm.) wide
231 oz. 1 dwt. (7,188 gr.)
The arms are those of Potocki of the Silver Pilawa branch, a noble Polish family who came to prominence in he 15th century. The title of Count Potocki was first granted to the senior line of the family in 1608. It is possible the arms are for Count Alfred Józef Potocki (1817-1889), who succeeded his father in December 1862, suggesting the present centrepiece was commissioned soon after the count came into his inheritance.

Count Potocki developed the family estates and the distillery set up by his father. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Polish Academy of Skills in Kraków and built the magnificent Potocki Palace in Lviv. Known as Lemberg in German, the city is now in modern day Ukraine. The palace serves as part of the National Gallery.He served in the Austro-Hungarian Diplomatic Corps and in both houses of the Austrian parliament. He was briefly prime minister from 1869 to 1870 and governor of Galicia from 1875-1883. His sister Ewa Zofia Potocki (1820-1882) married Jan Moritz, Graf von Dietrichstein (1801-1852), Austrian Ambassador to the Count of St. James, London.

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