Caddinet (cadenas) with the Coat of Arms of Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York

Trays on which cutlery, bread, and salt were set, caddinets (cadenas in French or panettiera in Italian) were initially used only by sovereigns and princes of the blood but later, in the eighteenth century, by the aristocracy. Valadier designed a number of such objects, but this is the only surviving one. It was created for Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart (1725–1807), Duke of York, the son of James Stuart, the Old Pretender, and younger brother of Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, “Bonnie Prince Charlie.” With the death of Cardinal Stuart, the family of Catholic pretenders to the English throne came to an end.