Provenance

The du Plessis family collection

Barend Louis du Plessis (1753 -?) of Stellenbosch married Elisabeth Blignaut in 1774
Johannes Petrus du Plessis (1778 - ?) married Susanna Sophia de Villiers in 1823
Jan Hendrik du Plessis (1826 - 1891) married Harriet Barker
Johannes du Plessis (1868 - 1935) married Aletta Helena Albertyn in 1917
Jean Henri du Plessis (1917 - 1981) married Elise van Heerden in 1947
Thence by descent to the current owners

Jan Hendrik du Plessis (1826 - 1891) served as N G Kerk minister at Cradock from 1861, commissioner of the N G Kerk at Cape Town from 1884 to 1887 and temporary minister at Pietermaritzburg where he died. He married Harriet Barker (1831-1900), daughter of the Rev George Barker, a well-known LMS missionary at Theopolis, at Bethelsdorp and Paarl. It was at du Plessis' prompting that the NG Kerk in Cradock is based on the model of James Gibb's church of St. Martins-in-the-Fields, London.
Johannes du Plessis had an extraordinary career as N G Kerk minister, traveller in Africa, missionary expert, author and professor of theology. The well-known heresy case against him was based on his views as professor at Stellenbosch, on the inspiration and authority of the Bible, the acceptance or rejection of the results of the "higher criticism", and the divine authority of Jesus. Proceedings in the Presbytery of Stellenbosch then in the Synod of the N G Kerk and finally in the Cape Supreme Court, continued from 1928 until his eventual dismissal from the Seminary in 1932.
There was considerable support for du Plessis at Stellenbosch and his supporters commissioned a life-size statue of him in rose-pink marble which became popularly known as "Pink Piet". The statue by Florenci Cuairan stood until recently in the gardens of the Stellenbosch museum and is now in the grounds of the N G Kerk.
 

Literature

Stephan Welz, Cape Silver and Silversmiths, Balkema, Cape Town, 1976, illustrated on p. 96
"Used for serving lumps of sugar-candy, sugar baskets are often incorrectly referred to as sweetmeat dishes or bonbonnières.  In the 18th century people at the Cape, as in Holland, did not put sugar in their tea or coffee but held a piece of sugar-candy in the mouth while drinking."

This sugar basket was used for the design of a 12 cent postage stamp, 5 November 1985.

A First Day Cover accompanies this lot.