Hester Bateman

1708 – September 16, 1794

Active in: England

Biography

Hester Bateman was a silversmith active between 1760 and 1790. She married the goldsmith John Bateman in 1732. Bateman’s career began after her husband’s death, when she took over his metalsmithing business. She retired in 1790, and her sons took over the business. Bateman died in London in 1794. Little is known about her early life or education; however, her work is housed in numerous British and American collections today.

Selected Works

A silver teapot with a square-like body, a half-heart shaped handle, and a straight, narrow spout. It has small feet that end in rounded balls.

Hester Bateman, George III Teapot, 1781. Silver and wood, 16 x 13 cm. Mount Holyoke College Art Museum

A silver dish with a square footed base and a half-oval body, which has a rich cobalt blue interior visible. The top of the dish is connected by a silver handle. The outside is etched with a decorative floral motif and in several places the design has punched through so the blue interior is visible.

Hester Bateman, Bonbon dish with glass liner, 1786–87. Silver and glass, 18.7 x 11.4 cm. University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art

A bright silver pot-belly coffee pot with a darker black or brown handle. It is decorated with small beads of silver around the edge of the lid and the side of the curved spout, and has an etching of a rearing lion. The pot rests on a tray with a small foot that ends in a silver ball.

Hester Bateman, Coffee Pot and Stand, 1786. Silver, 29.2 x 17.9 x 15.6 cm. Art Institute of Chicago

A bright silver goblet with silver beading design around the edge of the foot. The interior is a bright yellow-gold color. The side of the goblet is etched with a coat of arms that includes three acorns, a dragon, and a laurel wreath.

Hester Bateman, Goblet, 1785. Silver and silver gilt, 18.7 cm. Art Institute of Chicago

A round, slightly tarnished silver plate or flat dish with a silver beading decoration around teh edge. A coat of arms is etched in the center of the dish. In the tarnish, six circles are visible where something rested on the dish.

Hester Bateman, Salver, 1783. Silver, 26.9 cm. Dallas Museum of Art

Continue Exploring

View artist timeline
Selected works

Circle

Wife of
John Bateman

Mother of
Peter Bateman

Mother of
Jonathan Bateman

Bibliography

“Bateman, Hester.” Oxford Art Online. https://doi- org.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T006830.

English Silver by Hester Bateman and Other Makers from the Mrs. E. Claiborne Robins Collection. Richmond: Museum of Fine Arts, 2001.

Glanville, P., and J. Faulds Goldsborough. Women Silversmiths, 1684–1845. London, 1990.

Grimwade, A. London Goldsmiths, 1697–1837: Their Marks and Lives. London, 1976.

Hughes, G. B. “An 18th Century Woman Silversmith.” Country Life 128 (1960): 508–10.

Rendell, Mike. “Hester Bateman – Silversmith.” In Trailblazing Women of the Georgian era: the eighteenth-century struggle for female success in a man’s world, 81–89. Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2018.

Shure, D. S. Hester Bateman: Queen of English Silversmiths. London, 1959.