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Thomas Pitts

English

BiographyEnglish goldsmith. He was apprenticed to Charles Hatfield (b ?1696–7) in 1737 and turned over to David Willaume II (1692–1761) in 1742. Pitts became a freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1744. It is not known at what date he first registered a mark, but the mark attributed to him (t.p) would have been entered between 1758 and 1773, the years of the missing register of the Goldsmiths’ Company. Working at the Golden Cup, 20 Air Street, Piccadilly, London, he specialized in the production of épergnes and finely pierced silver basketwork. He is also known to have supplied épergnes to other goldsmiths: from 1766 his name occurs frequently in the ‘Workmen’s Ledgers’ of Parker & Wakelin (London, V&A, Garrard MSS). Surviving épergnes bearing the mark attributed to him are in a number of different styles, for example the chinoiserie pagoda form that he appears to have monopolized (e.g. in Gilbert Col., on loan to Los Angeles, CA, Co. Mus. A.), as well as the Neo-classical and naturalistic forms

Emma Packer. "Pitts, Thomas." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T067989 (accessed May 2, 2012).

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