STORR, Paul - b. 1771 London, d. 1844 Tooting

English silversmith, the son of Thomas Storr, a silver chaser. He was apprenticed in 1785 to Andrew Fogelberg. In 1792 he entered his first mark in partnership with William Frisbee but within months registered his own hallmark, and by 1796 he had set up a workshop in Air Street, London. His earliest works were in a restrained neoclassical style, but such was the quality of his work that soon after 1800 he began working, apparently exclusively, for Rundell Bridge and Rundell - the royal goldsmiths, after which his work was executed in the firm’s elaborate house style.

In 1811 he became a partner of Rundell’s and moved his workshops to Dean Street. He left the firm in 1819 and turned to the execution of more naturalistic designs. A partnership started in 1822 with John Mortimer, a Bond Street retailer, was far from financially or temperamentally ideal but was maintained until 1838, when Storr retired to Tooting, where he lived until his death.

Theocritus' Cup

This cup was made from a drawing by John Flaxman. The design is taken from the description of a drinking cup by the Greek poet Theocritus (c. 300-260 BC) in his First Idyll. On one side is a maiden with two youth competing for her favour. The other side shows a fisherman and a boy seated on a wall.

Paul Storr was the greatest English silversmith of the Regency period. He worked in the neoclassical style, often to the design of noted sculptors like John Flaxman, and was much employed by the royal family. As well as producing fine cups and goblets of a simple and elegant design, he was adept at making pieces of presentation plate. These were in great demand for commemorative purposes after the Napoleonic Wars.