Abraham Buteux (or Bateaux, Buteaux or Bulteaux) was born in London in 1698, the son of a Huguenot refugee family. Abraham’s father Isaac was a master weaver and Abraham was formerly apprenticed to William West of the Skinners Company in 1711 however it seems likely that he actually served a goldsmith’s apprenticeship under Simon Pantin (his uncle and godfather), free in 1718.

Abraham married Simon Pantin’s daughter Elizabeth (Eliza) in 1721 at St Pauls Cathedral. That same year he entered 2 marks (Sterling and New Standard) and the married couple set up business in Green St, moving to Norris St in 1731. Just a few short months later Abraham died and Eliza, 3 months pregnant at the time, continued the business and entered her own widow’s mark as Elizabeth Buteux.

The Buteux’s work bears similarity to that of Simon Pantin – elegant, classical style silverwares, mainly plain cups, other hollow-ware and salvers, to include a teapot and tea-table bowl on public display in the Harvard Art Museums and a toilet set in the V & A, London (not currently on display).

biography extracted from Sandra Robinson’s “Simon Pantin & His Children”