A Magnificent George III Cheese Dish
Silver London, 1812 Maker's mark of Robert Hennell II
Length: 19 in. (48.3 cm.) Weight: 74 oz. 10 dwt. (2,331 gr.)

Bearing the coronet and cypher of Harriet The Duchess St Albans
Sleigh shaped, with gadrooned rims and acanthus-capped scroll ends, engraved with the monogram 'H St A' surmounted by a Duchess' coronet, marked on body.

Artist Biography:
Son of John Hennell, elder brother of Robert Hennell I, who had returned to Newport Pagnell and continued his grandfather's business, described in the register as draper, Citizen and Goldsmith of London. Robert II was apprenticed to his uncle Robert Hennell 8 April 1778. Free, 1 June 1785. He was also apprenticed to John Houle (q.v.) engraver, and seems to have worked after freedom as such at Windmill Court, Smithfield, very probably executing the fine engraving typical of Robert I's pieces at the period, until first mark entered as plateworker, in partnership with Henry Nutting, 17 June 1808. Address: 38 Noble Street, Foster Lane. Second mark alone, 3 November 1809. Address: 35 Noble Street. Moved to 3 Lancaster Court, Strand, 28 June 1817. Third mark, 11 August 1820. Fourth mark, 28 January 1826. Retired 1833 when he announced in the London Gazette, 25 May, that his son Robert would take over his mark. Robert II's second mark appears on the coffin-plate of George III (illustrated, Percy Hennell, op. cit. under David I).