A silver rose water dish with links to the Royal family, the Royal Ballet and one of the National Trust’s best loved gardens is for sale at the Fine Silver Sale at Bonhams on 22 June.
The Messel dish, estimated at between £10,000-15,000 was a 21st birthday present to Linley Messel whose sister Anne was the mother of Lord Snowden, the world renowned photographer and former husband of Princess Margaret.
His brother, Oliver Messel, was one of the most celebrated set and costume designers of the 1930s and 40s, famously designing the Royal Ballet’s landmark production of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in 1946. In later life he moved to the Caribbean and began a whole new career as a house designer working on Barbados and, at the invitation of Lord Glenconner, on Mustique where he designed Les Jolies Eaux for Princess Margaret, his nephew’s wife.
The Messel family lived at Nymans in West Sussex where succeeding generations of the family pursued a passion for gardening, creating one of the great English gardens. These were given to the National Trust in 1953 and today attract over 200,000 visitors a year.
www.bonhams.com/silver