The Richmond 'Gold Cup' of 1790. A George III two-colour silver-gilt two-handled cup and cover, Wakelin & Tayler, London, 1790

the inscribed circular foot and slender urn-shaped body chased and matted with formal foliage below two oval cast, chased and applied equestrian vignettes, one of race horses at rest, the other during a race, the body further applied below the handles with the arms of the Borough of Richmond, Yorkshire on one side and a Yorkist rose within the motto 'BURGI RICHMOND SIGILLUM' (the Minor Seal of the Borough of Richmond, Yorkshire) on the other, detachable capstan-shaped cover

James, 8th Earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839), winner of the 1790 Richmond 'Gold Cup' with his bay horse 'Scorpion' at Richmond Races, Yorkshire on 8 September 1790.
Sotheby's, London, 20 November 1986, lot 188
Asprey plc., 1992
Christie's, London, 14 June 2005, lot 162

London, 1992, Sporting Glory, The Courage Exhibition of National Trophies at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Sporting Glory, The Courage Exhibition of National Trophies at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1992, pp. 164 and 165, fig. 1

The inscription reads: 'Miles Stapleton Esq^r. Laurence Dundas Esq^r. STEWARDS 1790.'

‘RICHMOND RACES [1790].
‘Tuesday, Sept. 7, the 50£. Weight for age. No race.
‘Wednesday, the cup [i.e. the ‘Gold Cup’], weight for age, was won by
‘Earl Lauderdale’s Scorpion, by Il’mio, 5 years old
‘Mr. Pearse’s bay cold, Enchanter, by Orpheus, 4 years old
‘Duke of Norfolk’s bay cold, brother to Temperance, ditto
‘Mr. Garforth’s Harold, by True Blue, ditto
‘Col. Radcliffe’s brown colt, Bywell, (late Seducer) ditto
‘9 to 1 against Scorpion, and the same against Harold’
(The Lincoln, Rutland, and Stamford Mercury, Friday, 17 September 1790, p. 3d)

In July 1790 the Earl of Lauderdale’s ‘Scorpion’ also won George III’s purse of 100 guineas at the Edinburgh Races, which were held over the Sands of Leith.

The first of a long sequence of Richmond Races 'Gold Cups' was run for in 1759, when the design for it and several later examples was supplied by Robert Adam. Of these early cups, bearing the maker's mark of Smith & Sharp, that for 1764 was sold at Replica Shoes 's, London, on 6 March 1969, lot 186. Another Smith & Sharp Richmond Cup, 1768, was sold on the same occasion, lot 180. Both these cups, in common with others in the series, including the present example, were applied with the same vignettes of horses at rest and during a race.