SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM ART HANDBOOKS. COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. This volume, forniing one of the scries of Art Handbooks issued under the authority of the Lords of the Covimiltee of Council on Edu- cation, has been prepared at their request by Mr. Wilfred Joseph Cripps, M.A., F.S.A., 7iiell knoiun, from his other works on the subject, as an author/// on all questions con netted with ancient plate both English and Foreign. Their Lordships desire to express their appteciation of the ready consent given by the Governing Bodies of the vanous Colleges and Corporations named on p. ix. to the application made to them for permission to copy the best examples of English plate in their posses- sion. The electrotypists to the Museum, Messrs. Elkington and Co., have succeeded in making admirable reproductions of these examples, and the Science and Art Department is thus enabled to offer, for the instruction of the public, a remarkable series of facsimiles of the best remaining works of the gold- and silver-smiths of this country. South Kensington Museum, July, 1881. COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE : A HANDBOOK TO THE REPRODUCTIONS OF SILVER PLATE IN FROM CELEBRATED ENGLISH COLLECTIONS. BV WILFRED JOSEPH CRIPPS, M.A., F.S.A. AUTHOR OF '"OLD ENGLISH PLATE," ETC., ETC. Published for the Committee of Council on Education r.Y CHAPMAN AND HALL, Limited, it, HI-:NRn^TTA STREET, COVENT GARPEN, W.C. i8Si. LONDON : U Ci.AV, Sons, and Taylor, tIKEAD STREET HILL, E.O. LcC^ CONTENTS. PAGE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii COLLEGES AND CORPORATIONS WHOSE PLATE HAS BEEN COPIED . . ix I'REVACE ^'^ CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY SKETCH. ]]arbarian work — The Saxon or Early Romanesque Period — Ancient Celtic work — Norman or Late Romanesque Times — The transition to Gothic — Rise of Secular Gilds of Goldsmiths — Their first regulations — The English Enamellers of the Thirteenth Century — Notices of Domestic Plate CHAPTER n. THE GOTHIC PERIOD. The Goldsmiths' Gild in London — Provincial Gilds — Early Scottish Legislation — College and Corporation Plate of the Fourteenth and I'ifteenlh Centuries — Appendix, giving Chronological List of Remark- able Specimens 20 339340 vi CONTEXTS. CI I A ITER III. PACE THE CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE. I'r jsperity of the Century — The work of the Goldsmiths' Company of London — Church Plate — Decorative and Domestic Plate — Appendix, giving Chronological List of Remarkable Specimens 46 CHAPTER IV. THE CENTURY OF THE STL'ARTS. Prosperity interrupted by the Civil War — Scarcity of Plate under the Commonwealth — The London Goldsmiths of the Seventeenth Century — Country work — Destruction of Plate at the end of the Century — Examples of Decorative and Domestic Plate— Appendix, giving Chronological List of Remarkable Specimens 85 CHAPTER V. THE QUEEN ANTSE AND GEORGIAN PERIODS. New Sterling Silver — London Silversmiths of the Eighteenth Centurj' and their Marks — Queen Aime Plate — The later fashions of the Century — Specimens of Plate illustrating the work cf each Period — Appendix, giving Chronological List of Remarkable Specimens 124 INDEX 153 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I.— Cover of the Bell of St. Patrick, XI. Century 8 2. ^The Gloucester Candlestick, c/;Y(i mo ... ... ... ... Ii 3. — The Lynn Cup, (-?>r« 1350 ... .. ... ... ... ... 24 4. — Wassail Horn, XIV. Century, at Queen's College, Oxford ... 26 5. — Portion of Founder's Mitre, circa 1400, at New College, Oxford... 28 6. — The Giant Salt, XV. Century, at All Souls' College, Oxford ... 29 7. — Mazer, circa 1450, at All Souls' College, Oxford ... ... ... 30 8. — The Foundress' Cup, early XV. Century, at Pembroke College, Cambridge .... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 32 9. — Mazer, cina 1450, at Ironmongers' Flail, London ... ... ... 33 10. — The Foundress' Cup, circa 1440, at Christ's College, Cambridge ... 35 II. — The Anathema Cup, 1481-2, at Pembroke College, Cambridge ... 38 12. — Ilour-glass Salt, given 1493, at New College, Oxford ... ... 39 13. — Standing-Cup, with Cover, ci/ra 14S0, at New College, Oxford ... 41 14. — The Leigh Cup, 1499-1500, at Mercers' Hall, London ... ... 42 15. — Chalice, 1507-8, at Corpus Christi College, Oxford ... ... 50 16. — Chalice, 1527-8, at Trinity College, Oxford... ... ... ... 51 17. — Paten, to match the last, at Trinity College, Oxford ... ... 52 18. — Hour-glass Salt, 1507-8, at Christ's College, Cambridge ... ... 56 19. — The Foundress' Beaker, 1507-8, at Christ's College, Cambridge ... 57 20. — Hour-glass Salt, 1518-9, at Ironmongers' Hall, London ... ... 58 21. — Standing-Cup, ci?ra 1520, at Christ's College, Cambridge ... 59 22. — Standing-Cup, 1523-4, at Barber Surgeons' Hall, London ... 60 23. — Standing-Mazer, 1529-30, at All Souls' College, Oxford 61 24 — Salver, 1545-6, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ... ... 63 25. — Ewer, to match the preceding Salver, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 64 26. — Stoneware Jug, 1562-3, at Vintners' Hall, London ... ... 66 27. — The Poison Cup, circa 1570, at Clare College, Cambridge... ... 68 28. — Apostles' Spoons, 1566-7, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge 70 29. — Standing-Cup, 1569-70, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ... 71 30. — Tankard, 1574-5, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford ... ... 73 31. — Cocoa-nut Cup, T5S4-5, at New College, Oxford ... ... ... 74 32. — Basin, 1590-1, at Merchant Taylors' Hall, London 75 viii Ll^T OJJLLL'STRATIOXS. PACK 33. — Kwer, 1597-8, |)ro))erty of Corp jralion of Norwich ... ... 76 34. — Salver, to match the preceding Ewer, property of Corporation of Norwich ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 77 35. — The Founder's Cnp, late XVI. Century, Emmanuel College, Cambridge ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 79 36. — Salver, circa 1615, at Merchant Taylors' Hall, London 37. — Beaker, 1604-5, at Mercers' Hall, London ... ... ... ... 91 38. — 0.strich-egg Cup, 1610-I I, at Exeter College, Oxford 92 39. — Gourd-shaped Cup, 1611-12, at Broderers' Hall, London... ... 94 40. — Tankard, 1634-5, property of Corporation of Bristol ... ... 96 41. — Standing-S.ilt, 1636-7, at Haberda.shers' Hall, London ... ... 97 42. — .Standing-Cup, 1637-8, at Haberda.shers' Hall, London ... ... 98 43. — Loving-Cup, 1649-50, at Haberdashers' Hall, London ... ... 99 44. — Caudle Cup, 1654-5, at Clothworker.s' Hall, London ... ... 100 45. — .Standing-Salt, 1661-2, at Clothworker.s' Hall, London ... ... loi 46. — Cup of Gold, circa 1660-70, at Exeter College, Oxford ... ... 103 47. — Fire-dog, circa 1670-S0, at Knole ... ... ... ... 105 48. — J .-ir with Cover, <-/>i-<7 1685, at Knole 106 49. — Vase or bowl, r/;ra 1685, at Knole ... ... ... ... ... 107 50. — The Royal Oak Cup, 1676, at Barber Surgeons' Hall, London ... 108 51. — The Pcpys Cup, 1677, at Clothworkers' Hall, London ... ... 109 52. — The Rich Cup, 1681-2, at S.iddlers' Hall, London no 53. — Irish Tankard, 1680, at Merchant Taylors' Hall, London... ... 111 54. — Octagonal Salt, 1685-6, at Mercers' Hall, London 112 55, — Montcith, 1702-3, at Vintners' Hall, London ... ... ... 130 56. — Wine Fountain, circa 1710, the property of the late Earl of Chesterfield ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 131 57. — Wine Cistern, to match the last ... ... ... ... ... 132 58, — Three- branched. Candlestick, 1714-15, at Haberdashers' Hall, London ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 133 59. — Tea-Kettle, 1732-3, the property of Her Majesty the Queen ... 134 60. — Tea-Spoons, circa 1730, at Barber Surgeons' Hall, London ... 135 61. — Two-handled Cup with Cover, 1739-40, at Goldsmiths' Hall, London ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . 136 62. — Ewer, 1741-2, at Goldsmiths' Hall, London . 137 63. — ColTce-rot, 1764-5, at Salters' Hall, London 139 64. — Tea-Urn, 1771-2, at Barber Surgeons' Hall, London ... ... 140 65. — Chocolate-Pot, 1777-8, the property of the South Kensington Museum ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 141 66. — Standing-Cup with Cover, 1795-6, at Merchant Taylor>' Hall, London ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 142 „*, For the loan of the Illustrations numbered 7, 15, 16, 17, 26, 36, 37, 44, 5.1> 54- 55> 6'» 62, 66, the Pcpartmcnt is indebted to Mr. Murr.iy, the 1 ubli-hcr of 0/d English Plate, by the.nuthor of this HandlKJ.ik. The following are the Colleges and Corporations whose Plate has been placed at the disposal of the Committee of Council on Education, Electrotype copies have already been made from examples in the collections marked (*) ; and it is proposed to carry on and complete the work as soon as possible. The articles selected from each collection up to the present time will be found by referring to the Index at the end of this Handbook. COLLEGES. OXFORD. * Exeter College. ' * Queen's College. * New College. * All Souls' College. * Corpus Christi College. CAMBRIDGE. * Clare College. * Pembroke College. * Corpus Christi College. Christ's College. * St. John's College. * Emmanuel College. * Trinity College, Dublin. St. Andrew's University. Glasgow University. LIST OF CORPORATIONS, ETC. CORPORATIONS. LONDON C O M P A N I E S, &c. * Barber Surgeons' Company. * Brodercrs' Company. • * Clothworkers' Company. * Goldsmiths' Company. * Grocers' Company. * Haberdashers' Company. * Ironmongers' Company. * Mercers' Company. * Merchant Taylors' Company. * Saddlers' Company. * Salters' Company. Lincoln's Inn. PROVINCIAL CORPORATIONS. Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Mayor and Corporation of Bath. Mayor and Corporation of Bristol. Mayor and Corporation of King's Lynn Mayor and Corporation of Morpeth. * Mayor and Corporation of Norwich. XI PREFACE. The South Kensington Muse^im series of reproduclious in electrotype of specimens of Old Plate now affords the student the opportunity of following at one time and place the whole history of English silver-working, from the earliest times to the present day. Every period is adequately represented by some of its very best and most characteristic pieces. The p?-esent handbook is specially designed to introduce this series to the student in proper chronological order, and to show how it illustrates the various stages through which the art has passed in England. Eor more gefieral histoiy, and also for what relates to hall-ma?-king and the standards, the reader may be referred to the Large Catalogue of the Gold and Silver IVork in the South Kensingto/i Museum, published in 1878, and works on Old English Plate in which the means of ascertaining the date of specimens by their hall-marks arc fully detailed. ]n such a handbook as the present the illustrations are all- impor- tant. The woodcuts have accordingly been prepared with especial xii PREFACE. care tindir f/ic snpcrintaidencc oj the Author, by Mr. y . D. Cooper, and it is believed they will be found admirably to meet the requirements of the art student. Descriptions of the objects in the Museum, being many of them taken wholly or in part from official sources, are set inside the usual margin and given in slightly smaller type. Some fai> celebrated examples are possibly or probably not of English origin, but it has been decided to include them, because they have been so long domiciled in England, and are so well known, that no account would seem complete that onritted to notice them. W. J. C. CiRKNCESTER, July, iSSl. COLLEGE CORPORATION PLATE. CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY SKETCH. Barbarian work — The Saxon or Early Romanesque period — Ancient Celtic work — Norman or Late Romanesque times — The transition to Gothic — Rise of Secular Gilrls of Goldsmiths — Their first regulations— The English Enamellers of the Thirteenth Century — Notices of Domestic Plate. The South Kensington Handbook on Gold and Silver, is designed to give a general sketch of the history of art-working in those metals from the earliest times. Commencing with some notes as to t*lie metals themselves, it says what is necessary of their use in ancient days, and carryirg the student from the twentietli cen- tury before Christ, when Abraham was rich not only in cattle but silver and gold, bridges over the ages which elapse between the first known goldsmiths amongst the Israelites or the Egyptians, and the first traces of the art in our own land. The whole of this interval is more or less dealt with down to the long and strange period after the fall of the Western B COLLEGE AM) CORJ'ONAIIOX I'LATE. Empire, when the Church alone saved from destruction — at all events in France and North-Western Europe — so much of the arts as served her own purposes. This period lasts till the kind of revival which is observed in the eleventh century, bringing us to the beginnings of Mediaeval as distinguished from Byzantine art. But for some such influence as Holy Church there might well have been an absolutely blank space for Western Europe between ancient and modern schools of workmanship, all inter- mediate traces swept away by the Avaves of successive barbarian inundations, and it would have been easier than it is to say at what period the history of mediaeval or modem art may be said fairly to commence. If, however, it becomes necessary to fix upon some arbitrary point for the commencement of an account of our own goldsmiths' work, it may seem a convenient one to start from the period at \\hich the monastery gives place to the secular gild, the monkish artificer to the master and his appren- tices. At the same time there is the inconvenience that in taking such an obvious point either all mention is omitted of a few notable traces of early Sa.xon and Celtic art, {^w though they be, or an exception must be made of them that they may be used as a sort of preface to the regular work of the school of English goldsmiths. On every account it is preferable to take the latter course, and so to commence with a few words about Saxon antl Irish work, early enamelling, and such pieces of the transition period between Romanesque and Gothic as the famous Gloucester candlestick, even at the risk of going for a few pages over trodden ground. •Such specimens too belong to the transition period between monastic and secular art, and bring us to the end of the thirteenth century, from which modern history runs in more consecutive course. It will not be contested that so important a craft as that COLLEGE AND COKL'ORATLON PLATE. 3 of the goldsmith then becomes in the history of the industrial arts of our own country, deserves more detailed notice than could possibly be devoted to it in the general handbook. The present sketch, therefore, follows the course of working in gold and silver as practised in England in a little more of detail ; and in general uses as its text the very complete series of ex- amples, whether original works or reproductions in electrotype, which the art-student may find in the galleries of the South Kensington Museum. The illustrations will not be absolutely restricted to these specimens, but may include a few notable examples that are well known and accessible to the student in some other public repository, though perhaps unfit for repro- duction, owing to their elaborate workmanship or their delicate enamelling. There will, at the same time, be no attempt made to give an exhaustive list of the known pieces of any period, early or late, but only to illustrate each period by those which are most typical of its prevailing fashions. For this purpose the reproductions in the South Kensington Museum will be referred to in their proper chronological order, and by the time the student has gone through the list, with their help and the guidance of the illustrations which have been selected for this LLandbook, he \n\\\ have had the opportunity of forming a correct idea of the work of every succeeding generation of goldsmiths, and will find it not diffi- cult to assign an approximate date to almost any piece of English work that he may happen to come across elsewhere. By the generous permission of the owners of the finest ancient English plate, including Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, many Colleges, both at Oxford and Cambridge, and the great Gilds of the City of London, the student now finds at South Kensington every period represented by its most historical and most important examples. Returning to preliminary histor}-, it may be remarked tliat 4 COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. with barbarian work England has httle or nothing to do. No such treasures have been found here as the Scythian head ornaments at St. Petersburg, brought from the Cimmerian Hos- phorus, the Gothic treasure found at Petrossa in Wallachia, or the Visigothic votive crowns with pendant ornaments, discovered at Guarazzar, six miles from Toledo, in Spain. One student seeks to find in the details of some, if not all, such objects traces of Byzantine, another detects more ancient Roman, in- fluences; but the earliest known objects of English art preserve, as does all the work executed by monkish workmen in North- western Europe, much more distinctly the Roman and Byzan- tine traditions which are to come to the surface, first in France, when the waves of barbarian invasion subside — say, for the sake of a date, the commencement of the ninth centurj-. Long before this, however, monkish goldsmiths had begun to make themselves a name, and the fact that not only St. Eloi, the patron of the goldsmiths of France from the seventh century onwards, but his predecessor in the favour of the craft, St. Martial, both hail from Limoges, or near it, is some proof that this city may with reason be called the cradle of the gold- smiths' art in Western Europe. In England the case is somewhat different, an actual cradle of the goldsmiths' craft it is difficult to find ; there are no such early traces of its work as in France, and when the first definite records of monastic work are found towards the ninth century, they are not confined to a single town or district. l>y the commencement of the eleventh century it would have been hard to say whether the monk of Glastonbury should be reck- oned more .skilful than his brother of ICly ; or him of Durham, York, or St. Alban's, than either. In all these, and many other places, work was carried on. 'J'he patron saint of the craft in England, the great St. Dunstan, himself, like St. Eloi, a great worker in the precious metals, was some time of ( llastonbur}' ; and the fart that the l-'.nglish goldsiuilhs wait till the end of the COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 5 tenth century for the appearance of their patron, indicates not unfairly the distance at which they follow their French brethren. A few pieces of Saxon work in the way of personal ornaments, made of gold and set with stones, are to be seen in the collection bequeathed by Mr. Gibbs to the South Kensington Museum. These may be of the sixth century, or thereabouts, whilst the well-known ring of Ethelwolf, in the British Museum, is thought to be of the eighth century. This is, properly speaking, rather an article of jewellery than of plate, but it may serve as an illustration of the kind of work done at the time of which we are speaking. It is of gold and dark blue-black enamel, if the coloured paste with which the hollows are filled can be rightly called so, and it bears the name of the king in plain Roman letters. M. de Laborde con- siders the colouring matter of which the ornamentation is com- posed to be true champleve enamel ; that is to say, that the letters are filled with an enamelling mixture which is solidly incor- porated with the metal bed by fusion. We may add, that this is the mode of enamelling employed by the Saxon goldsmiths generally, and that it derives its name from the digging out by which the hollows to receive the colouring matters is effected. Of little later date is the equally well known relic called the jewel of King Alfred, preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. It is a sort of seal-shaped object, being of oval form, the lower part narrowing to a point, but its use is uncertain. It is ornamented with a figure traced with thin walls of gold on a plate of the same metal, the figure being shown in pastes or enamels of three different colours ; and a piece of rock crystal, covering the whole, forms the face of the jewel. A legend in bold characters runs round the edge. Here we have our first example of another kind of enamel- ling, called in French doiso/uic, from the thin walls of filigree which form the shallow ponds or enclosures which are to be filled with the colouring matters. This is the kind of enamel found 6 COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. in Byzantine times, and, following them, of the earlier Limoges work. It must not be confounded with the paintings on copper used in later days, which are the Limoges enamels of common parlance. These two examples are enough to show that in the art of working in gold, and even of enamelling, the English were, in the ninth century, coming up with the goldsmiths of the con- tinent of Europe, for there is no reason to suppose that either the ring or the jewel are of other tlian English origin. The English monasteries were soon to become as much the nurseries of the art as those of Solignac or St. Denis could ever have been abroad. Alcuin, in the eighth century, had been a power- ful patron of the arts ; indeed it is not quite clear that France was not in some branches of art learning from England at this time. It would seem from the interesting notes of Alcuin in France, collected by Dr. Rock in his ChitrcJi of our Fathers, that youths were sent tlience by permission of Charlemagne, to acquire the art of illuminating manuscripts at the great monastery of York. The smith Wolvinus, to whom is attributed the front of the famous golden altar of St. Ambrose, at Milan, the most remark- able example of the art of the ninth century, and executed in 835, was unmistakably a Saxon. Compare his name with that of Vulfuin, the monk of Chichester, a goldsmith of the eleventh century, mentioned by Ordericus Vitalis. So much for the ninth century. There is little to lie said about its successor, except perhaps as regards Ireland. Here, far away as it may seem, a whole school of goldsmiths hail long (luurislied, e\en at times wlien little good work was done any- where else in Europe. A great deal of this ancient Celtic gold- work was in personal ornaments such as torques, armlets, gorgets, and the like. Much of it has unfortunately been melted down in recent days, but enough remains to show that at this dark period Celtic crjft.snirn coul*! hold thrir own with the best. COLLEGE AND CORPORATIOX IV. ATE. 7 These personal ornaments arc the most ancient of all, but towards the eleventh century ecclesiastical work, such as the objects next to be described, shows the growing influence of the Church in the arts. Two most notable objects, a reproduction of one of them in electrotype being now in the South Kensington Museum, may bring our sketch to the time of the Norman Conquest. They are the Ardagh Cup and the Shrine, or cover, of the bell of St. Patrick, of which the following descriptions are condensed from the large Catalogue of the Gold and Silver Smiths' Work in the Museum, published in 1878. The Ardagh Cup was found in 1868 at the place of that name near Limerick. It is made of an alloy of one part of copper to three of silver, and holds three pints. Its dimensions are 7 in. high, 9^ in. diam., the foot 61} in., bowl 4 in. deep. The cup, which was probably made for a chalice, is two handled, and of half-globe shape on a cylindrical stern, with a circular convex foot. Its bowl is chased with hammer and chisel with the names of the apostles in narrow angular uncial letters, and is ornamented with a belt, which, as well as the handles, is covered by small plates of gold worked in filigree patterns on a ground of beaten work. At various points and intersections there are placed buttons of encrusted champleve enamels. The foot is as fully ornamented inside and out ; on the inside with very fine silver filigree set over translucent enamel worked on a chased silver plate in the manner of the fourteendi century Italian enamellers. Here and there are traces of amber which has been set in places round the enamels. The late Earl of Dunraven numbered forty varieties of pattern in the gold wirework ornament, which is Celtic of the finest kind and of the best period. Amongst these are the Greek fret with Celtic varieties, spiral trumpet-shaped lines, interlaced bands, knots and arabesques, all different. It is 8 COLLEGE AXD CORPORATIOX PLATE. unsurpassed by any example of the work remaining to us of the liyzantine goldsmiths or enamellers of the same period. The translucent enamel here mentioned for the first time, is wliat the French call bassetaille ; it being placed over low reliefs or engravings cut on the surface of the silver, to which it gives great beauty and delicacy. The piece is considered by the best judges to be of the very end of the ninth, or the early part of the tenth century. The second Irish object is the Shrine, or cover of the bell of St. Patrick, of which there is an electrotype copy in the Museum. COVER fiF THE BELL OF ST. PATHICK. 1868. — 12. The original consists of a framework of brass inlaid witli plaques of gold filigree work, and set with jewels and crystals. At the back is a panel of silver perforated with crosses and surrounded by an inscription in Irish characters. It is the cover of a much more ancient bell, but is itself of the last years of the eleventh century. Height, ii in. ; length, 6A in. ; width, 4:] i'l. The chief features of the ornamentation arc the silver and gold fili'r;rcc and the coloun d paste gems which it surrounds with its complicated folds. The twining of the gold wire into serj-cnts and knots of every variety of form is a distinctive feature of COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 9 the work of the time, only carried to greater perfection in the following century. Each separate portion of the sides and ends is decorated in different detail to the rest, and the pecu- liarity of the dragons, birds, and beasts, though in pairs and balanced, is that each arrangement has a distinct design which can be traced through every complication. It is more fully described in the Catalogue of the Gold and Silver Smiths' Work in the South Kensington Museum, to which those readers who may be interested in its history and other particulars are referred. Enough has been said here to identify the principal features of its workmanship. Such pieces as these may represent the early Romanesque period of British art — the period of filigree work and stone-setting on flat surfaces. If we divide the Roinanesque period into two and call the part already noticed, the early Romanesque or Saxon period, it will leave the late Romanesque or Norman period, and the transition times between Norman and true Gothic, before we ge*^ to the work of the English gilds of secular goldsmiths. Of the Norman period, however, few if any English speci- mens remain ; but plenty of work was done, still by monkish artificers. Several causes stimulated production. In the first place the fashions imported by the Normans, though perhaps no advance upon those they replaced — for luxury and refinement were on the side of the Saxons — created a demand for new vessels suited to the tastes of the day. For another thing, the world had safely lived over the year 1000, and that crisis being passed might now be supposed more likely to last indefinitely. There was, therefore, no particular object for the living from hand to mouth, which had been more generally practised shortly before that critical point by the devout and the nervous alike than is generally perhaps realised. Still, however, notwithstanding these influences, no great change in style is at first apparent. Byzantine influences may be traced both in the figures and in the architectural details of lo COLLEGE AND CORPOKATIOX PLATE. such objects as the celebrated Basle altar-front of goUi, wliich is one of the most notable specimens of the Western work of the eleventh century, and which shows that in goldsmith's work the small round arches and the By/antine tone of decoration, that is to be observed in Norman architecture, must be expected. The chroniclers preserve the names of monks famous in the craft, and a record of some few of their works, — Brithnodus, Abbot ol Ely, and his images overlaid with silver and gilt and adorned with precious stones, may be cited as examples, — but there is no known specimen of English silver work upon which the finger can be placed as an illustration of this style and time with any certainty that it is truly of English work. Nothing remains of the mass of ecclesiastical work that must have been made in Saxon and Norman times, a faint idea of which may be formed from the authorities collected in illustration of his history of Anglo-Saxon ritual by the accurate antitjuary who has been already quoted, Dr. Rock. His notes are not less valuable for our purpose than for his own. We have to wait for the following century, and the Transition period, for such an example as the Gloucester candlestick. This fire piece of church, and monkish, work was made at Gloucester about 1 1 1 o, and it is now in the South Kensington Museum. Mr. Pollen, in the South Kensington Handbook on Gold and Silver^ draws attention to " the delight in representing gaunt bony humanity and monster form, which took so great a hold of the sculptors of churches " in so many parts of Europe at this time, and " the effort which carries out one connected composition through such vigorous but graceful contortions of line as arc seen in the twists, connecting knots, and graceful interchanges of volutes in the piece under discussion. It is well to note," adds Mr. Pollen, '• the connection between the designs of these knotted dragons anil serpents and the eleL'ant jilaits and figures of the Snxon ami C^eltic metallurgists.' Certainly no ])iece belter exhibits the 'IVansition period between COLLEGE AN]) CORPORATION lE.ATE. ii THE GLOUCESTER CANDI.E'iTICK:, circa IlIO. — IN THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. 1861.— 7649. Candlestick of white metal-gilt, known as '"the Glou- cester Candlestick." It has a triangular base, round stem, with three bosses surmounted by a deep pan and pricket. The whole surface is ornamented in relief with pierced foliage, figures of monsters, dragons, etc., and bears several Latin inscriptions, one of which records that it was given by Abbot Peter to the abbey church of St. Peter of Gloucester, and fixes its date. It is I ft. 1 1 in. high ; width at base, 8 in. The base is supported on feet formed by the necks, heads. ij COLLEGE AM) COR FOR ATI OX I' LATE. and claws of three dragons. The stem is composed of spiral bands and flat scrolh bearing the Latin legends, and the sur- faces are completely covered with vegetable scrolls, flat bands, and other work, together with figures; the pan being basket- work of bands in triple lines, the ends of which are intertwined and branch out into leaves and tendrils. Dragons, human figures, and forty-two monsters of various designs, are to be counted ; the tails of the monsters curling themselves every- where, and assisting the branch and leaf work in filling up every spare space in the design in one mingled mass of graceful convolution. tlie Romanesque and the Gothic, than this beautiful candlestick and the casts of the similar kind of candlestick at Milan, which may also be seen in the South Kensington Museum, the latter being a step more modern. In neither liavo you the light architectural tracery of tlie Gothic work of fifty or a hundred years later, but in botli you have the breaking up into open leaf and scroll work of what would have in earlier days been flat surfaces decorated with filigree. In the Milan candlestick you have even more of the Gothic and less of the Transition grotesque. And yet through all this you can trace a course of links connecting the workmanship of these successive ages, and that in more than one branch of art. It is of Saxon illuminating of a far earlier date that Dr. Rock is speaking when he describes " crosses the outlines of which are much broken arid varied, but the groundwork of which within those lines is a labyrinth of the most intricate and fanciful designs, sometimes made up, here of birds, hound-like animals, there of serpents, of snakes, of beasts with mens heads, of kinds of dragons, all drawn out to a wire-like lengtli, interlaced with one another, or twining within themselves so as to form knots which no hand might unravel," The same author goes on to trace the connection between these ancient fashions and the still okler interlacing knots and intricacies which are found upon the crosses set up by our British ancestors hard by their churches, or as road-side tokens of the COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 13 spot at which the true believer lay buried in days before " North- men's pagan fury burned down church and overthrew cross." Still, for all this, there cannot well be a more marked step than that which takes the student from such a specimen as the late Romanesque chalice called the Chalice of St. Reraigius, which is so well known and has been so often engraved with its half-ball bowl and its circular foot, the otherwise plain surface ornamented all over with bands of filigree and precious stones, and enamels, to the ]\Iilan candlestick. The chalice of St. Remi- gius is at present at Reims, but it belongs to the Bibliotheque Nationale, at Paris. Such was the art of the Transition period at which we may hail the encroachment of such comparatively fresh and charming work. Still it was an encroachment only — rather the re-adap- tation of an old than the introduction of a new style. The rude coffin-chalices that have been found in England of the last quarter of the thirteenth century, one of which has lately been placed in the British Museum, preserve the Romanesque form, even if entirely undecorated, as in the instance mentioned. Silver is prescribed by the Constitutions of Stephen Langton in 1206, as the proper material for chalices; the commentator in Lyndwode on these constitutions adding, perhaps unnecessarily, that they might be of gold. As an evidence that the Celtic monk still kept on at his smith's work in Ireland, may be men- tioned in passing the Shrine of St. Monaghan, of the twelfth centuiy, of which the Museum has a plaster cast. 1864. — 54. This is a shrine with a narrow gabled roof, height 2o| in. ; width 18 in. ; with filigree metal work, and images in high relief. It also exhibits enamelling, some of which is now lost. The monk, however, at all events in England, now begins to give way to the professional craftsman, though he does not disap- pear altogether from the scene. By the middle of the twelfth century a powerful secular gild of goldsmiths existed in London, and in 11 80, the twenty-sixth year of Henry II., it was, amongst 14 COLLEGE AND CORrOR.lJJOX PLATE. other such gilds, amerced for being adulterine, that is set up with- out the king's licence ; but it had its wardens and they had their duties, even though the gild was not regularly incorporated until more than a centur)'^ afterwards. \Ve can well understand that having once paid their fine they were at liberty to take what steps might be to protect their trade, and to regulate its work, espe- cially as regards frauds and apprentices, both imi)ortant matters in the days that were coming. In very early times those who carried on particular trades or handicrafts were accustomed to form themselves into gilds, or fraternities, for the purpose of protecting and regulating the trade or mystery, as it was called, which they exercised. Amongst such associations those of the goldsmiths seem to have been amongst the most ancient in many countries of Europe. By the middle of the thirteenth century the goldsmiths in Paris had their formal code of statutes, which mention the "sterling" standard of English silver, a proof, if any were needed, that such matters were here, too, under regulation ; and, returning the compliment, English ordi- nances of 1300 recognise gold "of the touch of Paris" as an admirable standard. The art was leaving the cloister, though Matthew Paris may preserve the names of monks of the thirteenth century who followed the craft as before, such as was Walter of Colchester, " painter and sculptor incomparable." The royal patronage of the thirteenth century seems to have been bestowed on ecclesiastic and layman alike. Odo, the gold- smith, was surveyor of the works at Westminster in 1^37, and was not a monk, for his son Edward was associated with him in royal employment and royal favour. Later on in the century it is one Torell, called the goldsmith, who executed the striking monument still to be seen in Westminster Abbey of Henry III. and liis Queen, Eleanor, lly the middle of the century the goldsmiths of London were a numerous and powerful body of craftsmen, fur in an afiray whicli occurred in 1267 between them and the tailors, the two trades niet and fouiilit to the number of ^oo men on COLLEGE AND CORFOLiATLON PL. ATE. 15 each side, of whom some were killed, the dead being thrown into the Thames, and others wounded, before the bailiffs of the City could part them and apprehend the ringleaders, some of whom were hanged. But, truth to say, their turbulence was not their only failing, for frauds such as those which seem to have equally prevailed in France, and were dealt with by the regulations of the Provost of Paris in 1260, had already in England called for a royal mandate, which is to be found in the Close Rolls for 1238. In other trea- tises such regulations have been mentioned for legal or historical purposes, but we may quote them rather to show that colouring gold was now forbidden except in the case of gold thread, that laton or copper was not to be gilt, and that precious stones were not to be mounted in false metal, nor glass imitations in metal of good quality. All these provisions are so many indications of the modes of working then in vogue, as well as of the frauds that the craftsmen already were in the habit of practising. At the very end of the century (1300) an Act of Parliament recognises the wardens of the craft officially for the first time, and charges them with the assay of vessels of silver, and the marking of them with die well-known sign of the leopard's head, as well as with a general supervision over the trade. For this purpose a right was permitted them of domiciliary visitation from shop to shop amongst the goldsmiths, and of seizing gold of bad quality should they find any. Before we go on to the fourteenth cen- tury let us notice a branch of the art in which the craftsmen of the thirteenth seem to have been very successful, that is in enamelling. A note upon this enables us to introduce a most precious object in the South Kensington Museum that most authorities agree is of English make — an enamelled chest, or coffer, which, from its heraldry, must have been made about 1 290-1 300, either for William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, or for his son Aylmcr. i6 COLLEGE AXD CORPORATLON PLAIE. ig6j. — 4. Casket of j;ilt copper crusted with enamel, stands on lour short legs rudely shaped into human feet. Its sides, ends, and top are divided into lozenge-shaped shields touching at the points, with small quatrefoil ornaments at the points of inter- section. The heraldic bearings arc those of England, Angou- leme ; Valence, Earl of Pembroke ; Dreux, Duke of Brittany and Brabant. Length, 7 in. ; width, i\ in. ; height, 3' 'H- The enamel is chample've, of the kind made by the Limoges enamellers of this period, and as much of their work was im- ported into England, it may have been made there, but it is a general opinion amongst connoisseurs that this coffer is of English make, even though the tomb of the same William de Valence in Westminster Abbey dates from Limoges. Another piece of the same ])eriod, but not so well known, is a fragment of some fine cup made of a nautilus* shell, now lost, at All Souls' College, Oxford. It is of silver gilt and of the form of a filled-up horseshoe, but having a semi-elliptical open- ing at the larger end such as would receive the central curve of a nautilus' shell. The enamels, with which it is entirely covered, are heraldic like those of the casket, but are cloisonne as well as champleve, with a ground of translucent enamel, the arms being of cham- pleve', and the intervening bands of cloisonne of the most delicate character. It may be hoped that such a beautiful i)iece of work may be claimed as I'^nglish, but the arms it bears being lho.se of !•' ranee, Navarre, and Champagne, point to Philip le Bel, or his son, Louis Hutin, as its original owner. Its date must almost necessarily be fixed as somewhere between the marriage of the former with the heiress of Navarre in 1276, and the severance again of the two kingdoms in 1316 on the death of Lt)ui.s Iluiin. This piece heads the list of Old English College Plate, and will remind us of the enamelled stall plates of the early Knights of the Garter at Windsor. It is impossible to doubt that in the later ])art (jf the ihirleeiilh leniury a schcil of enamellers COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 17 especially skilful in applying decoration of an heraldic character, carried on its work in England. The great reputation of their brethren of Limoges possibly commanded for the more ancient seat of the art a share of the orders for more important work. It cannot be denied, for example, that the executors of Walter de Merton, Bishop of Rochester in 1277, went to John of Limoges for the enamels required for the tomb of that prelate, any more than that the more ancient references to enamel always seem to speak of it as opus Lemoviticum. or Limoges work. This may, however, have often been used as a descriptive term to indicate the kind of work rather than to imply that it had actually been executed at limoges itself, and the very names of English enamellers of this period are in some cases preserved. A set of episcopal constitutions of 1229 enjoin the provision by the parish churches of the diocese of Worcester, of two pyxes, one of which was to be of silver or ivory, or de opere L.anonitico., using tlie term apparently in the general sense, that if not of some other costly substance, such as those mentioned, it was to be of enamel. Hitherto the specimens we have been able to refer to have been almost always either personal ornaments or ecclesiastical work, but with the decided traces that we have now come to of a secular gild, we shall not look in vain for a record of more general demand for their work, nor for examples of what we may call domestic plate. First we may mention those necessary articles of every-day use, spoons ; although there is no known English spoon of so early a day as two or three French ones attributed to about the year 1330, now in the South Kensington Museum. From what we find later on, we may say that English ones of the same period would have been of much the same fashion, probably showing the same slender tapering stems, ending in an acorn for point or knob, and with the same pear-shaped bowls. From the middle of the thirteenth century silver spoons for household use are mentioned by the dozen. In the wardrobe accounts of 1296, it appears that i8 COLLEGE A XI) COKI'ORATIOX PLATE. even the kitchen of King Edward I. was supplied with a large silver spoon weighing twenty shillings and three pence, for cooking pur- poses ; nine spoons of gold occur in the self-same record. A few years later an entry occurs of eight other spoons belonging to the same sovereign which has often before this been specially noticed, because it describes them as marked on the necks with the Paris mark of a lily. It is the earliest reference to that celebrated hall- mark. Mazer bowls, too, almost as common as spoons in olden days, begin to obtain frequent mention in wills and inventories of the thirteenth century. A bishop of Chichester leaves his great cup of mazer, in 1253 ; Edward I. had his mazer witli a cover, foot, and boss of silver, in 1296; Sir William Vavasour his "great mazer" in 13 11. Here we have king, bishop, and knight all using mazer cups, which we may well suppose resembled some ancient vessels still preserved at the Harbledown Hospital, near Canterbury, the last halting- place for pilgrims on their way to Becket's shrine. One of these, although w'ithout any stem or rim of silver, has a large silver- gilt medallion fixed in the bottom of the bowl bearing the figure of a knight on horseback with a shield on his arm slaying a dragon, the shield with the bearings of Beauchamp, and an inscription running round the medallion referring to Guy of Warwick. This mazer is thought to be of the reign of Edward I. Further details as to these curious drinking-cups will be better reserved until we come to some of which illustrations may be given in their proper chronological order. Even in a felon's inventory, a mazer rup worth 6.f. is men- tioned in 1337. Still larger and more important must the ewers and basins have been of which mention is found in the King's jewel rolls of 1284, in which it is recorded that a i)air of such basins were then bought in London ; a washing-basin for the hall occurs at about the same time, as well as an ewer on three feet, gilt and enamelled in vine fashion. These last are in a jilate indenture of King COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 19 Edward II. Hanaps are recognised in a statute of 1285 as important articles. The tavern-keeper of those days, if not bound over as security for his good conduct by his " hanap," had to substitute some other equally substantial pledge. It was evidently his principal drinking-vessel. It is curious to trace the hanap and the modern article called a " hamper " to the same source. The Saxon hncep was a cup or goblet, and the place where such hanaps were kept would be the hanaperium, or the *' ambry." It may have originally been a strong chest, and so the term hanaper or hamper may have been applied and continued, at last exclusively, to a chest-like basket with a lid, which might be used for various purposes. We may gather that drinking-cups were of importance enough to gain special or pet names in very early times, from the fact of a Efshop of Durham, in 1259, calling one of his by the name of " Chanteplure." As an indication, too, that they were now not always made of wood or metal only, may be adduced the same bishop's Indian nut, mounted or harnessed with silver. Let us not forget either the great nef, or ship of silver, used in the days of Edward I., as well as later, for alms, by which we should probably understand broken meat from the table to be given to the poor. A generation or two only later than this, is the great almsdish of silver, which William, Lord Latimer, speaks of in his will (1381) as in his wardrobe in London. In the absence of any existing specimens of the handiwork of these ancient days, such notices must serve to indicate how the goldsmiths employed themselves up to the time of their regular incorporation by charter as a trade-gild at the very commencement of the fourteenth century. CHAPTER II. THE GOTHIC PERIOD. The Goldsmiths' Gild iu London— Provincial Gilds— Early Scottish Legisla- tion— College and Corporation Plate of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. In the present chapter we come •alike to the first regular incor- poration of a Goldsmiths' Gild in England, and to the earliest extant specimens of its work. The London gild was incor- porated by letters patent from Edward III. in 1327, under the name of "The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Goldsmiths of the City of London." This charter regulated the sale of goods, and provided for the election of honest and suffi- cient men best skilled in the trade to rule it, reform it, and punish offenders. It also provided that country towns should send up representative men, " to be ascertained of their touch of gold, and there to have a starnp of a puncheon of a leopard's head marked upon their work as it was anciently ordained." No long time afterwards, certainly by the middle of the century, good sterling silver was ordered to be worked by the smiths ; who were also to mark the wares made by them with their marks, for which they should answer. All these regulations show that a move was taking place in trade matters at this period, and it was so abroad as well as at home. The goldsmiths of France are equally found to require supervision ; the regulations of the gild at Montpellier are still extant, and from them we gather, amongst other things, that the mode of assaying silver by COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PIRATE. 21 the cupel, which has ever since been practised, was thus early- known. The powers of the Goldsmiths' Company were actively exer- cised in London and beyond. One Peter Randolfe was interro- gated, in 1376, for exposing two circlets for mazers of mixed or inferior silver. At another time, one John of Rochester was taken by the master of the trade of goldsmiths there, for counter- feiting mazer bands in copper and brass plated over with silver or gilded, and brought up to London, he having sold the goods within the City. Fairs and markets held in the west and other distant parts of England, seem to have been more or less regu- larly attended by the officials of the London gild in exercise of the wider powers granted them in 1462 by King Edward IV., renewing and confirming their former charter. The names of many of the great London goldsmiths are known. Thomas Hessey was king's goldsmith in 1366, Nicholas Twyford in 1379 ; and besides these, the names of John de Chichester, Thomas Raynham, and John Hiltoft, occur in the RoyalWardrobe Accounts. Sir Drew Barentyn, goldsmith, was a great man at the close of the century. It is questionable whether any local authorities had jurisdiction over the trade at this time, or whether the London gild exercised a general supervision over the whole country. Provincial gilds were certainly esta- blished by the beginning of the fifteenth century in various places — indeed goldsmiths are mentioned at Newcastle in the middle of the thirteenth, but it is a bare mention only ; and work is, about the same time, spoken of as of Durham. Spoons " made at York," are mentioned in a north country will of 1366, and amongst the records of the fifteenth cen- tury preserved in the York registry, are most curious inventories of the tools and other contents of the workshops of York goldsmiths. Wormod, Jonyn, Harlam, Angowe, Luneburgh, and Colam, are amongst the names thus mentioned, and more than one of 2 2 COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. these point to the foreign origin of the owner, for Harlam, Lune- burgh, and Colam must almost for certain have come from Haarlem, Luneburg, and Cologne respectively. Alan de Alne- wyk, goldsmith of York, leaves his tools to a kinsman in 1374, on condition of his good conduct at school and in learning his art, and his behaving well to the testator's widow. Even a small stock in trade seems, in 1458, to have included several anvils, forging hammers, files, gravers, planishing hammers, and other such appliances. A more detailed inventory of 1490 contains some very interesting items recorded in a curious mixture of Latin, French, and English. In addition to such articles as we have already mentioned, materials for gilding and a box full of requirements for enamelling are enumerated, also bands and feet for mazer bowls, pearls, crystals, books of gold leaf, a mazer shell, a knife-handle of "green cerpentyn " and jet beads. Here we have, in fact, all the materials necessary for the carrying on of a general manufacturing and repairing goldsmith's business. We do not, however, find that any member of the Goldsmiths' gild rose to be chief magistrate of the City of York before 1497, when one Thomas Gray became Lord Mayor, and several other crafts seem wealthier and to have been rated higher towards the repairs of the Common Mote Hall called " of the St. Anthony's Gild." As the i\[ercers is the first of the London City companies, so here the " merchants and mercers " paid most towards such civic levies. Enamelling, no doubt, held its own, as we shall shortly see in the case of the Lynn cup. And articles of English make and English fashion, which was evidently a distinctive thing of itself, were all this time much valued in France. Several sucli articles, amongst them an enamelled clasp, are found in the inventory called the Puke of Normandy's, in 1363 ; and Charles VI., in 1309. possesses a great goblet of gold weighing more than six marks and enamelled, with a ewer to match it, both of Ihcm the gift of the King of ICngl.md. These, and otlitr references to J'Jiglish work, may l)c found rollo( led by the COLLEGE AND CORL'OLiATION PLATE. 23 learned M. de Laborde, and are of a time that would not have seemed favourable to the progress of the arts ; 1399 was the very year of King Richard the Second's deposition. Scotland takes the place of Ireland, of which nothing more will be heard till modern times. Under James II., in 1457, a " cunning man of gude conscience " was to be deacon of the craft in each borough, and fraudulent work was punishable by dire penalties, the defaulter's goods being confiscate to the king, and his life at the king's will. Other legislation towards the end of this century ordains that the silver used shall be of as good silver as that of Bruges. Certain privileges were accorded to the " hammermen " of Edinburgh, who included the goldsmiths as well as certain other trades, in 1483. It is not a century, however, in which the arts were likely to prosper very much in England ; art, no less than law, goes into abeyance amid the clash of arms. The Wars of the Roses seem to have brought about the destruction of all earlier treasures made of the precious metals. Church plate no doubt was spared until the next century, but all went then, as all the possessions of the great families \A\o came alternately to grief with the varying fortunes of the rival houses of York and Lancaster had gone before. There are but nine pieces of Hall-marked plate known of earlier date than 1500. The South Kensington Museum con- tains only eight specimens supposed to be English, even including such ancient pieces as the Gloucester Candlestick ; and as none of these eight are marked, it is not certain that they are all of English origin. There are in all some fifteen or twenty specimens of the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries preserved among the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge and the civic gilds of London, only two of them, and those about the least ancient, being marked in any way. Of most of these it is proposed to say something, and of several of them to give illustrations chiefly engraved after the reproductions 24 COLLEGE AND CORI'ORATIOX PLATE. in the Museum. The objects selected for this purpose may be taken to thoroughly represent the styles prevalent in the two UNAMl 1 I I'.Ii lie, ,/>i-.l 1350, AT king's LVNN. It is of silver-jjilt, oiiKimcntcd with translucent ciianici, and lias ft lou},' slender stem rising from a shallow circular foot, which is edged below with a (lal expanded base of pciita,i,'onal plan, with COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 25 a wavy outline. The knop also is somewhat pentagonal, with five acorn-shaped projections, and the goblet is divided into five compartments by ribs ending in foliated ornaments. These compartments contain figures male and female in costumes of the fourteenth century one above another in two tiers on dark- blue, green, or purple enamelled ground ; the figures are silver with parts of the dresses enamelled, and with sprays of star- shaped flowers and leaves in silver rising from them ; on the foot are similar figures, also dogs chasing foxes and hares. Height 15 inches ; diameter of cover 4J inches. centuries. First let us notice the most ancient and most beautiful of the treasures of our coimtry corporations — the enamelled cup long preserved by the corporation of King's Lynn, in Norfolk. We may dismiss with the less reluctance the local tradition that it was presented by King John, because it is a no less interesting object if it is attributed to the still very early period, to which it really belongs — the middle of the fourteenth century. Opinions may differ as to the excellence of the chasing, but there can be no doubt as to that of the enamelling ; and it is satisfactory to find that one of the first extant specimens we come to of English silver-work bears out the reputation that records attribute to the English craftsmen in this respect from early times. The next illustration of the work of this century is a very characteristic one — the Wassail Horn at Queen's College, Oxford. Horns are amongst the most ancient of English drinking-vessels, perhaps popular because they were generally supposed to reveal the presence of poison in any beverage with which they might be filled. The old bishop whose Indian nut and cup called Chanteplure have been already mentioned, leaves his " great drinking-horn with silver fittings," to his sister Agatha, in 1259, and constant mention is found of such vessels from that time forward. We may instance the cup called " Unicorn," be- queathed by Chief Justice Gascoigne to his son in 1419. Doubtless it was not unlike such specimens as we can now consult at the South Kensington Museum. Though no silver E 26 COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. « ASSAIL HUKN A r ylliEN S COl.l-KOK, OXFORD. I 4TK CKNTUKV. iS8o. — 52. The Wassail Horn at Queen's College is formed of a buffalo horn with a band of silver-gilt mounting 2] inches deep round the lip, and it is encircled lower down by two similar bands resting on bird's-claw feet. Each of these bands has the word " wacceyl " engraved on it three times in Gothic characters, and the top is finished with an ornament also engraved with the word "wacceyl," and terminating in a grotesque monster's head. It is of English work 19^ inches high; the horn itself being no less than 25 inches long, and the greatest diameter of its oval month 5I inches. The cover, mounted by an eagle, is of later work. COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 27 mounting to it is mentioned, we know that they were ahnost always garnished with silver, sometimes gilt, and furnished with feet of various design. There is a good example preserved at Christ's Hospital, London, and we may remember, in passing, that estates were sometimes held by what is called, in the lan- guage of the law, "cornage," or tenure by the horn. The Pusey Horn is the token by which the Pusey estates in Berkshire are held. The Elmore Horn has been handed down with that estate by the ancient family of Guise in the same manner. The Queen's College Horn, now used as a loving-cup, is traditionally called poculmn carifafis, or cup of affection, and is said to have been presented to the college by Philippa, queen of Edward HI., Robert de Eglesfield, its founder in 1340, being her chaplain. According to the statutes, the members of the college were to be summoned together by the sound of horn ; perhaps this very horn was formerly employed for the purpose. Corpus Christ! College, at Cambridge, possesses a very similar horn, a reproduction of which may also be seen in the Museum, It is mentioned in the list appended to the present chapter, and is of about the same date as the horn already described at the sister University. At New College, Oxford, are still preserved some of the most precious relics of the last part of the fourteenth century, relics which show the immense pains and skill that were still bestowed upon work for the Church. There is no more elaborate nor more artistic example of the Gothic goldsmith's work of this period than the well-known pastoral staff of AVilliam of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, the founder of the college. No description will do justice to the beautiful Gothic architectural work with its brackets, finials, pinnacles, crockets, niches occu- pied by statuettes, and the translucent enamels which distinguish this beautiful art-treasure. It could not be reproduced in elec- trotype without injury, but the purity of the Gothic work of the period may be judged of by the crocketed silver-gilt mount of the 28 COLLEGE AND CORPORATIOX I'LATE same great prelate's niiire wliich is preserved with his crosier. A portion of this has been mor.lded for the South Kensington Museum (1880, — -58), and is given in the ac- companying woodcut. In the early part of the fifteenth century we have the first example of a standing Salt, perhaps the most important article of table plate in those days. Marking the place at table of the loril of the feast, the principal salt was naturally an objw'ct of great magnificence; and it served this purpose rather than to hold the salt for the meal, a supply of which was placed near each person in a smaller utensil called the " trencher salt." In early times the great Salt was often of curious device, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March (1380), had his in the shape of a dog; that of John, I'^arl of Warrenne, was in the form of an "olifiunt." The following specimen at All Souls' College, Oxford, is formed as a savage man bear- ing the vessel for salt upon his head. It was no doubt part of the plate given to the college by Archbishop Chichcle, who founded the college in 1437, and died in 1443. In this case of crystal, tiie holder for the salt was often of some equally valuable sub- stance, such as agate, serpentine, or chalcedony, and it usually was i)rovidcd with a cover, i)artly for the purpose of keeping the contents clean, partly for preventing the introduction of poison, of which our ancestors had a more than whole- loKTioN OK cKoc- ^Qy^Q f^.;„-. 'phg oUlcst ami (UKuntest of Salts, KETED MOUNT ^ ~ I ?v''vk'ui'a*m''s ''^ ^"y J'-'igli^li collection, it must still be ques- Lou'^F/IxFonT. tioncd whether it is of iMiglish make. COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 29 THE GIANT SALT, 13TH CENTUKY \\ OI K, -^ r ALl i>l ULS COI.I.ECK, OXFDKD. iS3o. — 60. Standing Salt, formed of a circular faceted crystal in silver- gilt mounts with a cover of cut glass, probably replacing the original crystal. It is bnrne on the head of a huntsman, or wild man, of silver-gilt, clothed in a loose ttinic with black- ^0 COLLEGE AXD CORPORATION PLATE. pointed buskins having a huniing-knife suspended in his belt, the face and hands painted in natural colours. The base is coloured green and covered with painted figures, on a small scale, of various wild animals, dogs, and huntsmen. In the centre is a larger figure fully coloured, plr.ying on the bagpipes. Round this base is a battlement with eight circular turrets. The cover is surmounted by a finial in form of an artichoke, partly coloured green. We now come to the first example of those curious old drinking-bowls called mazers. Like the Giant Salt, it is to be seen at All Souls' College, and is probably part of the same bequest of plate, but tliis piece is undoubtedly English. It is oi>e of a whole set of mazers preserved intact for more than 400 years, tlvj only surh set in existence. MAZEK. ..J 1^ - .vl-l. .SULL-. (.'-'l-Llul-. OXFOKU. iSSo. — 62. Mazer or bjwl of maple-wood, with a deep rim of silver- gilt, the band of the mount plain. Diam. 6 in. ; rim, \\ in. deep. This is one of the simplest and ])lainesl examples of the ancient mazer bowls, but exhibits their usual characteristics in tlie wood of which it is made, the deptli of its mount, and the boss or print in the bottom of it. Antiquaries ha\ e busied themselves to collect every possible note relating to these curious vessels, commonly used in early l^nglish days for domestic purposes. Much doubt has been raised from time to time about their name as well as tlieir use, but there can really be no question that the word ma/er is derived from the Flemish word f/Kuscr, which signifies, according to the best writers, a knot of tlie niaple-trec. It will be remembered COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE 31 that the German word inaser is a spot, speck, or the grain of wood, and viaser holz, veined wood. The old Latin name for them seems to have had but little mean- ing ; they are called " murrce" in the old inventories. This has much misled the curious as to the materials of which they were made. It was, perhaps, not unnatural to connect them with the " myrrhine" vases of classical times, whatever these ancient and precious vessels were made of j but it is clear that wood was the ordinary material used in medieval days for utensils such as these. The old Paris goldsmiths are said to have exercised their art in mending drinking- cups made of many different kinds of wood, in the eleventh cen- tury ; and here, too, " treen " vessels, or vessels made of wood, were in common use amongst our ancestors. "Beech made their chests, their beds, their join'd stools; Beech made the board, the platters, and the bowls." So much for these bowls, which seem to have been valued in proportion to the beauty of the wood of which they were made, the knots and roots of the maple being especially prized for their veined and mottled grain. The mounts added to the depth of such knots as were too shallow otherwise to form drinking-vessels. Possibly, again, it was the elaborate character of the mounts, and the enamelled bosses, that has led to the occasional expres- sion of a doubt as to their use. But the numbers in which they are found and their enumeration in all cases amongst other domestic articles for the service of the house, point conclusively to their use as drinking-vessels. Their destination, moreover, is sometimes expressly mentioned, and some of them bear inscriptions which are decisive upon the point. One well-known mazer carries on its band in Gothic letters of the end of the fourteenth century, the legend, "In the name of the Trinitie, Fille the kup and drinke to me." The Scrope mazer at York Minster bears inscribed around the rim an indulgence of forty days' pardon to all that drink, and the 52 COLLEGE J A'/) COR L'O RATI OX J'LATE. records of the gild to whicli it anciently belonged mention this pardon also, but as limited to those who drink from it with moderation and not excessively. The York mazer is of the early part of the fifteenth century. The cup called the Foundress' Cup, at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in its original state, was not very dissimilar to the All Souls' Bowl, although it has an inscription, as shown in the accompanying engraving, on the band.^ The Pembroke BBBBBaSBIIi THF FOUNURESS' CI., 11 LLNlUKV, AT I'li.MDliUKU COLLEOK, CAMBRIUCF. 1880. 34. Cup with deep rim and foot, of bilvcr-j;iit. On the outside is the Gothic-lettered inscription — " Sayn - denes -yt - es - mc - dre Vox ■ lier - Inf - drenk - and - mak • gud - cher."' ' It is t.ikeii in this order, as it would have been dilTicuIt to undcr- slanrl it without liaving fir^t jeeu what the ordinary in.TZfr was like, tiiough it is proh.xlily somewhat older llian tlic bnwl at All SouU'. COLLEGE AND CORPORATIOX PLATE. zi Round the base is a rope ornament of twisted wire, and above it a fillet of Gothic openwork cresting. Round the stem is the inscription— like the other in Gothic letters—" God - help - at - ved," and the letters V.M. Height, 6.3 in. ; diam. 6 in. The letters V.I\I. on the stem are thought to stand for Marie de Valence, the name of the foundress, mother of Aylmer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, after whom jthe college had its first name; but taking the rim and that alone to be what remains of an earlier cup, it can hardly be of so early a date as the foundation of the college, though it possibly may go back to the last years of the fourteenth century. Cup is not now a mazer, but a cup of silver-gilt on a foot. It is hardly possible, however, to come to any other conclusion than that originally it was a mazer bowl of the usual type ; and that it was given its present silver stem and bowl at some slightly later date, but still not much later than the end oi the century, perhaps in consequence of its earlier wooden bowl crettins; broken. .MAZER, Circa 1^50, AT IKU.NMONGEKS HAl-L. LONDON 1S80. — 21. Mazer bowl at Ironmongers' Hall, London. This is cf wood, mounted with a silver-gilt rim, bearing an inscription in Gothic letters, much defaced, alluding to the Salutation. The arms of the Company are enamelled in their proper colours on a raised boss in the bottom. Height, 2\ in. ; diam. 6^ in. A tliird mazer (1880. — 21), engraved above, is of about the same period, and introduces us to the treasures of the great London F 34 COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. Companies for the first time. Like the others it has been repro- duced for the Museum. The mention of the boss or print may remind us that, in the case of bowls formed of the half of a gourd or nut, or even of ill- turned wood, a central plate answered the useful purpose of cover- ing the rough place occasioned by the meeting of the fibres. It would be of no particular use in the case of a cup fornjed of silver, and it may confirm our view that the Pembroke College Cup was originally a mazer, that the existing metal bowl has inside it a raised boss, or print as it is sometimes called, bearing the (rothic letter M, probably preserved and transferred from the original bowl of wood. In the most ancient inventories of the college treasures it is described as a "murra," or mazer, whilst in those of more modern times it is called, so the author is informed, " pecia stans," or a standing cup. The Foundress' Cup at Christ's College, Cambridge, is as interesting a treasure as the Valence Mary Cup at Pembroke College. Its diagonal bands of beautifully executed running foliage in repousse work might be of the later part of the century, but the coat-of-arms enamelled on the boss within the cup seems to fix its date within a very narrow margin. The arms are those of Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester, impaled with Cobham of Sterborough. This impalement, according to the heraldry of those days, was the distinctive coat of Eleanor Cobham, the second wife of Duke Humphrey, and points to 1440 as the ajjproximatc date of the cup. From the Duke the cup may easily be supposed to have passed into the hands of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and mother of King Henry VII., who left it at her death, in 1509, to the college she had founded. We now turn to Maces, of which possibly the most ancient in existence arc those of St. Andrew's University in Scotland. Reproductions of these have been, or will be in due time, placed in the South Kensington Museum. COLLEGE AND- CORPORATLON I^LATE. 35 THC rOUNDRliSS CU;', circa 1440, AT CHR1:;T S Ci LI.KGi;, CAMIiKIUU!: 36 COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. Six of ihcni are said to have been discovered in the tomb of James Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrew's, in the Church of St. Salvator's College, which he had founded in 1456. One is sup- posed to be the original from which the other five copies were made. The stem is elaborately engraved with spiral bands of columbine flowers, and the monogram J. K., the initials of the bishop, sur- mounted by a crown. It has three knops of architectural design, consisting of battlemented turrets, in which have been placed statuettes ; two of these, representing ecclesiastics bearing scrolls, remain on the lowest knop, also another figure pray- ing, and two more. The upper knop has also five statuettes remaining — three of ecclesiastics reading, two of angels. From a chain at present attached to tlie centre of the mace depends a massive seal-shaped object, of circular form, with a handle nearly three inches long ; on the face of this seal, which is depressed, and has a battlemented edge, is a Latin inscription in Gothic letters, recording that James Kennedy had it made in Paris in 146 1. The cocoa-nut commended itself from early times to the attention of the goldsmith. Of convenient shape for forming the bowls of standing cups, nuts were often richly mounted, being somewhat rare and therefore prized. We have already had occasion to mention an Indian nut in the thirteenth century. They were more common in the fifteenth, and seem usually to have had covers of silver as well as silver mounts; sometimes, too, silver cups took the shape of nuts. King Henry VI. has his hanap of silver made after the fashion of a nut in 142S; perhaps, as we have conjectured in the case of the ^':dence Mary Cup, the original bowl when broken was not easily rej^laced, and resort was had to a silver vessel of the same shape for the purpose of refilling the existing mounts. A "black nut " of 1431, covered and gilt, with an eaylc on the summit of the rover, must certainly have been a ( ocoa-nut, and COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 37 so must the two covered " notes " garnished with silver and gilt, weighing xxiii. ounces, and valued at 2s. 6d. the ounce, which are included in the lists of Plate in the Treasury of the Exchequer for 1444. Much such cups as we may suppose these to have been are the very ancient cocoa-nut cups which are preserved at New College, Oxford. They are unsuitable for reproduction, but it is worth while quoting the description given of one of them in the catalogue of the Loan Collection at South Kensington of 1862, which is as follows : — Cup of cocoa-nut, with an inscription on the silver-gilt mount. This mount represents a tree growing in ground, within a palisade, its six branches enclosing the bowl with their foliage, and con- necting themselves with the rim ; a nest of wattlework, formed of silver wire, is observed round the bottom of the cup, and the stand is of openworked crocketing formed in Lombardic QJQ's. Height, 8 in. ; diam. at top, 2^ in. Ostrich eggs were as popular as cocoa-nuts and as much prized, but there is no extant example of an ostrich egg with mounts of the century with which we are now dealing. More breakable than the cocoa-nut, fewer have lasted till our times. There is an ancient but somewhat rudely ornamented one at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, originally used for the Host, which is known to have been broken about 1553. The fragments are even now held together by a tripod mounting, renewed at the expense of Richard Fletcher, Bishop of Bristol, in 1592. Ostrich eggs were commonly supposed to be the eggs of the grififin, and they are often so described in old wills and inventories. Even Judge Gascoigne, in 1419, calls such a cup a "grypey" or grype's egg; grype being another word for griffin. Of little later date than the last is the well-known Anathema Cup, preserved with the Valence Mary Cup, at Pembroke College, Cambridge. The date of this is fixed by the Hall-mark of 1481-2, 38 COLLEGE AND CORPOIiATION I'LATE. which it bears. Its reputation is owed chiefly to the threatening in- scription it bears — Qui a/ienaverit anathema sit — for its fashion is sufficiently simple and somewhat wanting in both force and grace. This is the comment, perhaps not altogether in itself undeserved, of a French writer of repute, who argues from the Anathema THK ANATHEMA GUI', I4til-2, AT i'li.UlHOKli CULLECK, CAMtlKIUCK. i8So. — 35. This cup is a perfectly plain standing cup of silver-gilt, on a stem, without a cover, having a narrow band of (iothic ornament round the foot. Cup that English goldsmiths' work had its moments of somno- lence and hesitation. If the cup ^\•erc to be set up as one of the recognised best specimens of its time this might be merited criticism, but the writer referred to has possibly been led to suppose that the cup was a more important ])iece than it is, from the fact of its donor having cursed any one who should ever jiart with it. In point of fact it is one of the ortlinary drinking-vessels COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 39 of the day. The inscription upon it from which it takes its name need not be supposed to imply that the cup was of any unusual importance, or was ever considered of merit from an art point of view. HOUR-GLASS SALT, GIVEN 1493, AT NEW COLLEGE, OXFOKD. 1880. — 55. Silver-gilt salt, with pyramidal cover. The stem is of hour- glass shape, with spirally twisted gadroons or flutes, there being aknopcit the small part, or waist, of Gothic foliation ; the cover. 40 COLLEGE AND CORPORATIOX J 'LATE. which is surmounted by a finial, is divided into panels by crocketcd ribs, the interspaces being fdled with glass, gilt in an imbricated pattern with foil behind it ; round the base an inscription runs in Gothic letters: "Super W'A montes TER stabant HIL aqueM.'' Height, 14^ in. ; diam. 5^ in. It is not tinfortunate that we can engrave a singularly beauti- ful specimen opposite to the Anathema Cup {see page 39). The grotesque and fanciful Salts of a previous century seem now to have been replaced by articles of a more settled fashion. What may be called the hour-glass pattern of Salt prevailed in the last years of the fourteenth and the first quarter of the following century, to be then succeeded by equally popular designs, of each of which the South Kensington Museum has secured examples which will be mentioned in their turn. This at New College is amongst the best of the hour-glass Salts, and it is not too much to say tliat the elegant courses of leaf-work set with pearls which run round it in three places, and the crocketing and other work, particularly of the cover, mark it as one of the most beautiful works of tiie closing period of Gothic art. There is an equally well-known and even more elaborate Salt at Corpus Christi College, O.xford, given by Bishop Fox. It is of a little later date and of more angular plan, but the beautiful arabesques and leaf-work with which its panels are filled entitle it to rank as a masterpiece with the Salt at New College. Two more cups, one of them still at C)xforcl like so many of the best pieces we have been considering, the other in the possession of a London gil. COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 57 BEAKER, 1507, AT CHRIST S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDCR The beaker and cover is of silver-gilt, on a projecting base in form of a Tudor rose, \\ in. deep, battlemented and ornamented in repoicsse^ with bosses and stamped running enrichments, the base of the cup somewhat expanded, and having a chain fixed round it, the surface engraved with diaper, as described on p. 58; the cover battlemented and similarly diapered, sur- mounted by a hexagonal ornament composed of six portcullises with a finial of four marguerites and a Tudor rose. Height, C)\ in.; diam. 5^^ in. 58 COLLEGE AXD CORPORATLON PLATE. fled to France in that year, after the disastrous battle of Towton, to solicit the aid of the French King for her husband and young son, then fugitives in Scotland, and remained in Paris for some months. The Cambridge beaker shows diapering of a similar character ; in this case the design being the Tudor rose and portcullis, with marguerites at each interlacing of the pattern ; the marguerites the emblem of the Countess Margaret's name, and the portcullis formed as its initial letter. To show that the hour-glass salt would be found on the table of gild in London as well as of college at Oxford or Cam- bridge, we give an engraving of one that is almost the latest of them. It is of 1518, its fellow being of 1522. The pair are at Ironmor>gers' Hall, London. HOL'R-CI.ASS SALT, I518, AT IRUNMONUEKS IIAI.I., LONDON 1880. — 22. .Salt-cellar of silver and parcel gilt, having six-foiled sides, in three of which foliage is engraved. English work, 1518. Height, 5f in. ; diam. of base, 3| in. Though less in size and inferior in finish to the .salts at Christ's College, the same alternate dcroration will be noticed in both examples. Rcturring for a moment to Christ's College, one more curious cuj) must be mentioned. Its date is :i little uncertain, but it is COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 59 safe to put it at about 1520. The imbricated ornament is of repousse work, and the general shape of the cup and stem, as well as of the knop of the cover, will remind us of the Leigh Cup at STANDING-CU'P, ciixa 152O, AT CHRIST S COLLEGt;, CAMUKIUGE. the Mercers' Hall, which has already been described (see p. 42). It bears upon the knop a curious coat-of-arms in enamel that may be thus described, myl.v — Arg. on a chevron sable 3 estoiles of the field betw. 3 adders' heads of the second, a crescent for difference. 6o COLLEGE AND CORL'ORATJOX J'LATE. This is the reading of the coat given by an excellent antiquary, i':e late Mr. Albert Way, but it has never been found possible to identify it with the coat of any known benefactor. The most that can be said is that it somewhat resembles the arms of William Hughes, Bishop of St. Asaph in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a worthy of Christ's College. 'l"he next standing-cup of this century to come under our notice is a royal gift. Its simple and elegant form and appro- CVV AND COVBR, 1523, AT BAKBER SUliOfc. >.N.s 11 ^IL, LONDON 1876.— I, Cup of silver-gilt, the bowl plain, with four pcnd.int bells, the cover rcpousst' with tiie rose, porlciillis, aiul ikurde-lys, and surmounted with the arms of Henry \'11I. A band of flowers in r,'Pousst' work decorates the foot. Knglish, 1523. Heijjht, II in ; diam. 6 in. COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 6 1 priate decoration are well shown in the accompanying engraving. It was presented to the Barber Surgeons' Company of London in 1540 by Henry VIII. Covered cups now, to a great extent, replace a hitherto familiar class of vessel which for the future is seen no more ; wood was going out of fashion fast in these more luxurious days, and the mazer bowl must disappear, even the curious mottling of the gnarled maple failing to commend itself to the goldsmith now that other and richer materials might be had. The small mazer on a stem, that is the most modern of the All Souls' series, preserves, however, the distinctive features of earlier bowls, even though, it is of so late a date as 1529. Indeed, its Gothic fashion is hardly less marked than that of MAZER BOWI. ON FOOT, 152g, AT ALL SOULS COLLEGK, OXKOKU. 1880. — 61. Mazer, mounted on silver-gilt foot and stem. English, date 1529. Height, 6 in ; diam. of bowl, 4:1' in. 62 COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. some of the others, although the cresting round the foot shows a good deal of Renaissance detail. Purely Gothic ornament is now fast disappearing. There is a very similar mazer, of about the same date as the last, from Corpus College, Cambridge, in the South Kensington series of reproductions. It bears the names of the three magi, Jasper, Melchior, and Balthazar, on the silver-gilt mount, and is called " The Three Kings' Cup." The names of the three kings were supposed by some to be a charm against the falling sickness. The student should here notice asilver-gilt jar of 1533, one of the possessions of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, as an example of the new style of treatment. 1880. — 64. An urn-shaped silver-gilt jar with a cover, the whole repouss^, and chased with bold foliated scroll patterns ; round the base is a running enrichment of scroll-work ; the curved handles spring from cornucopia-shaped ornaments, and the cover is surmounted by an ornament, supported on three dolphin brackets. English. Height, yi in. : diam. at mouth, 3i in. This will be recognised as of more decided Renaissance cha- racter than a Tazza cup of but little earlier date at the same college, with which it may be usefully compared. The Tazza (1880. — 63) is of the year 15 15. At length we come to fine examples of the ewers and basins, or salvers, that were in daily use amongst our ancestors in days when forks were not. They were handed before and after every meal, and sometimes after every course, the hands being held over the basin whilst warm or scented water was poured over them by the servitor, another attendant standing by with a fine cloth or napkin. The etiquette books of the fifteenth and six- teenth centuries give many directions for the proper serving of the ewer and basin, "the water hotc and colde," and the "napkyns." We must remember that persons ate (jIT the same COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. (^3 dish and with the fingers, aided only with knife or spoon, forks being as yet unknown. Such a salver was the following, which was given, with its accompanying ewer, to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, together with much other plate, by Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1570, though they are of somewhat earlier make. SALVER, 1545, AT CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 1880. — 79. Salver of silver-gilt, the edge ornamented with foliated arabesques, the centre similarly engraved, and having a series of depressions radiating from a centi'al boss, the base of which is repousse, or stamped with graceful interlaced arabesques. The top of the boss bears in champlevd enamel the arms of Parker and the motto, " Mundus transit et concupicentia ejus, 1570." English, 1545. The ewer matches it, and the pair are admirable examples of the work of the last years of Henry VIII, The student will not fail to notice a very distinctive feature of Renaissance 64 COLLEGK AND CORPORATIO.X PLATE. ornamentation in the foliated arabesques that will carry us on for fifty or sixty years. They are as distinctive of the goldsmiths' work of the rest of the century, as the dolphin brackets that we first found in 1533. KWEK, 1545. AT C'>RPIIS CHRISTI COLLEGK, LAMBKItXIC. 1K70. — 79A. The ewer is of silver-,i;ilt, to match the foregoing salver of the same year; its body is octagonal, with an anoussc work or engraving, and enamels disappear altogether. At Corpus Christ! College Oxford is a salt of the new- school, as decided a step in art history as the ewer and salver take us at Cambridge. The hour-glass salt is found no more, and the standing salt, circular or square, on feet, still with a cover, takes its place. The cartouches, foliated scrolls, and the statuette of an ainorino on the lid, bearing staff and shield, are distinctive' of the sixteenth century. 1880. — 65. Standing Salt and cover of tilver-gilt, repoicssc, and en- graved. It is of circular form, and has three principal car- touches, with central bosses, the intervals ornamented with foliated scroll-work ; the lid to match, surmounted with statuette of an aniorino, bearing a staff and shield. Date, 1554.- The Falcon Cup at Clare College, Cambridge (1S80. — 84), should be mentioned for the purpose of pointing out that it is of foreign workmanship, probably coming from Antwerp. It is an early example in point of date of the fashion, afterwards not uncommon, of forming cups as birds, animals, windmills, or other objects, some of them very quaint and grotesque. These were specially popular in Holland and Germany ; but there are well-known specimens in England, amongst the most important being the Cockayne Cups of the Skinners' Company, a set formed as cocks, in allusion to the donor's name. The Falcon Cup is of about the year 1550. The Cockayne Cups are ot 1605. INIounted jugs of stoneware, the jugs themselves brought usually from Cologne, were very popular in the early days of Queen Elizabeth, and they are now eagerly sought for by col- lectors The specimen at Vintners' Hall is a very good example of Elizabethan decoration, the neck mounts showing the engraved bands and woodbine foliage that is so distinctive a feature in the church cups of the same period. The lid shows the repousse K 66 COLLEGE AND CORPORAriOX PLATE. work, also so characteristic of the time, the cartouches of lions' heads, masks, fruit and tlowcrs being especially popular. These ju"s are found from the middle to the cnil of tlie century, but then fell out of use. SrONEW.H, 5'. J, .\i vi;. 1 M., II All., 1-ONDON. There is no move curious cup in the nhole collection of re- productions at South Kensington than the standing cup with cover, called Queen Mary's Cup, at Perth (i88o. — 4.-'). It is a composite cup, formed cf a very finely chased body of Nuremberg work, c. 1560- 1 570. of the best kind, with some additions and repairs COLLEGE AND COEPORATWN FLATE. 67 of coarser and commoner work, executed at Dundee, as records testify, in 1637. The curious Scotch hall-marks bear out the record ; the maker's mark being a known one of that period.^ The vessels now called tankards, though the word itself seems somewhat difterently applied in days earlier than the sixteentli century, come in at about the same time as the mounted stone- ware jugs. No article of plate calbd by this name occurs before about 1575; more anciently tankards were the wooden tubs, hooped with iron, that were used for carrying water from the conduits. Silver tankards are mentioned, however, in a will of 1576, and one well-known etymologist goes so far as to derive their name from the twang or sound the lid makes on shutting it. Some may think it less fanciful to connect it with " tank," and to derive both "tank" and "tankard" from the French estatig. A tankard rather than a cup is the so-called "Poison Cup" at Clare College, Cambridge, of which an engraving is given (p. 6Z). Here again we observe the waving bands of woodbine fashion that are so prevalent for the time ; but the crystal set in the lid must also be noticed, reminding us as it does of the precautions taken by our forefathers against being poisoned. The greatest person- ages had both their meat and drink assayed or tasted by those who served them before they ^•entured themselves to partake of cither ; and a further precaution was to make the cup of one or other of the substances which were popularly supposed to have the power of revealing the presence of poison in any beverage with which it might be filled. Certain horns were of this class, and certain crystals were believed to become clouded if brought into contact with poisons. Such a crystal is that found in the hd of the Clare College tankard, hence called the " Poison Cup." It was presented by Dr. Butler, a celebrated physician, temp. James I. Persons even of the middle rank had their beverages tested, although not their meats ; a small cup, called a cup of assay, was ^ Cripps's Old EiigU-,h Plate, p. 147. 68 COLf I:CE AXD CORPORATION PLATE. used for tins purpose, or sometimes the lid of the cup that was being hamled. IIIH ■■ J-OliON CUP, Clrc.l 1570, AT CI.AKK CIll.LKiilt, CAMIIKIUGU. iSi^o. - tp. A glass tankard, mounted in silver-gdt, tlie drum mcloscd in a filigree wire casing, the whole resting on three cherubs' heads. A band at the base is thinly engraved with floral patterns; above is a band of strapwork, and minute lloral ornament with projecting masks ; the mouth encircled with bands similar to the fo )t. The cover is llat, with a crystal set in a plain band, surrounded with the same kind of filigree wire ornament as the drum. F.nglish. Height, 7 in.: diam. of cover, 3.\ in. COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 69 Another tankard, entirely of serpentine, and with its silver mounts and lid ornamented in the usual Elizabethan manner, of which we have seen so much, is preserved with the Poison tankard at Clare College. This last is also reproduced for the Museum (1880. — 85), but does not require more detailed notice here. Serpentine was always valued : it will be remembered that nearly a hundred years before the date of this tankard green ser- pentine was found in a goldsmith's shop at York. At length wje come to some Apostles' Spoons, which the reader may, perhaps, be surprised not to have heard of before. This sort of spoon is not as ancient as is popularly supposed. A careful examination of old inventories shows that they did not come into fashion much before the commencement of the sixteenth century. Earlier spoons seem to have been of more simple design. The acorn-head was popular a hundred years before ; and in 1450, or thereabouts, spoons are found with the image of the Blessed Virgin at the ends of the handles, such spoons as these being often called " maidenhead " spoons. Bishop Fox's spoons at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, have owls on the handles. These are of 1506. Seal-headed spoons are found from 1450 down to about 1650 or 1660. To return to Apostles' Spoons. It seems to have been an oUl custom for sponsors at christenings to give one or more such spoons to the child for whom they answered ; usually the spoon would bear the figure of the saint in honour of whom the child was named, or the patron saint of the donor, each apostle being distinguished by his own particular emblem. The fashion of such spoons, which are now much prized, may be seen from our engraving of one selected from a set givon by Archbishop Parker, with other plate already spoken of, to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The heads of three others of the same set are added to show some of the various emblems by which one apostle is distinguished from another. 70 COLLEGE AND CORPORATION I'LATE. Complete sets of thirteen spoons, representing Our Saviour and the \\\\o\t twelve apostles, are of extreme rarity. No such set is in the ])Ossession of any college or corporation so far as is known to the author, but the corporation of Hedon possesses some spoons of a set which is known to have been once complete. The nearest approach to a complete set, by which is to be under- stood a set made by tlie same hand and at the same time, is this Ai'OSTLKb" SrOO.NS, 1566, AT COKPL'S CHUISTI OJLLEl.E, CAMBKIUGF.. 1880.— 73-76. Four apostles' spoons, of a set of thirteen such spoons given by Archbishop Parker to Corpus Christ! College, Cam- bridge. One is of 1515, the others of 1566. Lcng h, 7I in. at Corpus College, there being thirteen spoons, representing Our Saviour and the twelve apostles, but one single spoon, probably representing St. Paul, who is sometimes included in place of St. Jude, is of an earlier date than the rest, which are of the year 1566. St. Paul is known by the sword {see engraving). The custom of giving such spoons at christenings was on the wane in the middle of the seventeenth century, after which they are no longer found. Together with his spoons the archbishop gave the same college a very fine standing-cup, which may stand for a type of the tall hanap of this period, and is engraved on the opposite page. COLLEGE AND CORPORATIOX PLATE. yr STANDING-CUP, 1563, AT CORPUS CHKISTI COLLEGE, CA.MBKIDCE. 72 COLLEGE AM) CORPORATLON PLATE. iSSo.— 69. Siiver-gilt standing cup, with cover, richly ornamented over the whole surface with repoiissd work and chasing, on a baluster stem, which, together with the base in which the cup rests, is repousse w\\h grotesque masks, fruit, and tlowers ; the drum is chased widi strapwork and foliated arabesques, having three medallions of repoiiss^ work, containing female heads in high relief ; the expanding lip is also chased, and shows three cherubs' heads in relief; the cover is similarly ornamented, and has a nude male statuette upon the top, leaning on a rod, and holding a blink escutcheon. An inscription records its gift to the college in the very year the hall-mark shows it was made, 1569. Its height is 21 j in. ; and diam. at lip, 5^ i.n. The tankard of the year 1571, still keeping us to themagnificeni gifts of the archbishop, was probably intended from the first for a communion flagon. It (1880. — 77) much resembles one at Oxford, which, though not reproduced for the Museum, has been selected for engraving here. Both may in this w'ay be con- sulted by the student. The Cambridge example is repousse with two bands of ara- besques, and three circular medallions, with masks in high relief within laurel wreaths ; the lid is ornamented to match, with three hclmcted masks, and is furnished with a band of imbricated orna- ment round the edge, which is repeated round the base of the tankard ; this is stamped in lengths and finished by hand. It is 6^ in. high ; diam. at top, 2\ in. The Ashmolean Museum tankard is of the year 1574, and is engraved opposite. It is of silver-gilt, with straight sides, tapering to the top, having two chased belts of egg and tongue ornament, and a third round the cover. The engraved bands on the drum interlacing, and with flowers between them, are now familiar to us, and the same may be said of the cartouches, lions' heads, fruit, and medallions with female heads, which ap]>car upon the cover. COLLEGE AND CORFOKATION PLATE. 73 TAXKARD, 1571, IN i'UU A^■il.UaL^:A^l MUSEUM, 0XF01!U. 7 4 COLLEGE AND CORPORATIOX ELATE. A cocoa-nut cup, at New College, Oxford, bearing an inscrip- tion which records the death of one Katharine Baylye in 1 600, is decorated in very similar fashion. It was mounted in 1584, and it is engraved as affording an excellent example of the stem and foot that would be given to any standing cup in Elizabethan times. COCOA-MT COP, iy.\, AT M \V C H-l-IOi:, 0.\|-(M!:> After the lapse of half a century it is time to introduce a second example of the basins, which are unusually fine at this period. The silver parcel-gilt basin, given by William Ofley to the Merchant Taylors' Company of London, is 6nc that may be selected to represent them i^scc engraving opposite). COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 7 5 A provincial corporation may now fitly be turned to for the purpose of supplying us with a pair of most beautiful objects to represent the work of the last few years of the sixteenth century. silve;; ba-,in. pakcei.-gilt. 1590, at me?»chant tayloks hall, loxdon. 18S0. — 13. Basin of silver parcel-gilt. In the centre the arms of Ofley, then lately granted, viz. a cross flory between four birds. Round the boss on which these arms appear are three panels inclosing lions' heads between swaggs of flowers. English, 1590. Diam. 19 in. Together with much other fine plate the Corporation of Norwich can boast of the ewer aiid salver which come next on the list. First for the ewer. 70 COLLEGiZ AND CORrORATlON fLATE. l.VMilJ, 1597, THli I'KOPEKTY OF THE CORPOKATION (U N M u r. II. 1S61.— I. Oviform ewer oi repousst' or beaten work, with grotcsiiue handle formed by a sea nymph and dolphin ; triumph and pro- cession of sea deities in hiyh relief round the ncik, body, and foot of the vessel, llnglish, 1597. Height, 14',' in. COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE n The salver which accompanies it is of e(|ual merit, and llie l)air are a possession of considerable importance. SA1.\1-;K, ISJ7. TO MATCH THE PRECEDING EWER, THE rKOl'ERTY OF THE COKPOUATION OF NORWICH. 1 o6i . — 2. Salver to match the preceding ewer, repousse, with the triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite ; cupids on sea-monsters, gro- tesques, and fruit in relief round the rim. In the centre has been inserted at some time or other an inappropriate medal- lion, on which is represented Christ washing the feet of His disciples. English, 1597. Diam. 17^ in. It may possibly be thought that the Norwich ewer marks a definite step in the history of the art, taking us on from the liens' 78 COLLEGE AND CORPOKAl lOX PLATE. heads, the cartouches and strapwork, of llie middle of the cen- tury, to the marine attributes which are so characteristic of its termination. 'I'he most casual observer will note the dependence upon orna- ment rather than upon form that marks the close of the reign of Queen EHzabeth. and will appreciate the difierence between such examples as the Norwich ewer of 1597 and the Barber Sur- geons' cup of 1523. Elaboration of detail takes the place of a more elegant simplicity. It may be added tliat an extremely similar ewer and salver are ia the possession of the Corporation of Bristol. The salver was stolen during the Bristol riots of 1831, and cut by the thief into 167 pieces, which were, however, fortunately recovered soon after- wards, and joined together very skilfully by a silversmith of Bristol, who riveted them all to a silver i)late, which now forms the back of the salver. Lastly, returning to Cambridge, we close our list of examples for the Renaissance century with a cup which, if the last of all, is the best of all. It is the Founder's Cuj) at Emmanuel College (1880.— Si). Although attributed by its owners to Cellini, and, it must be confessed, not bearing any hall-mark that may secure for some English artist the credit of having executed this beautiful cup, it has been from time immemorial in England, at all events, from the very foundation of the college, wiiich is about the period at which the fashion of the cup tells of itself that it was made. There is mucli in the shell-work, the horses' heads, and the scroll figures with female busts that recalls the known work of Cellini to the mind, but we may be spared the duty of identifying it with any foreign master hand. It is, perhaps, rather too late in style for the great master, who died in 1571, and was at his best years before. He worked in France from 15.10 to 1545, after which Francis I. was no longer able to retain his services, and he returned to Ilalv. COLLEGE AND CORFOKATION PLATE. 79 THE FOUNDi-;;;s CU1-, lOiH cu;. ; L'KV. at i.m.manuel coLiT:r,K, Cambridge. 1880. — 81. Cup of tazza form, the finial of the cover supported by four demi-seahorses, the cover itself repousse with shells and other marine attributes. The bowl is plain around the lip, but surrounded lower down with a twisted cable, below which appear four large shells between shell-fish, all in high relief, harpies with upstretched arms forming bracket supports ; the knop of the stem, on which their feet rest, is repousse in high relief with four masks, between which are as many bent scroll-like arms ; the foot is circular and ornamented to match. The interior of the bowl is as richly worked in repousse and chasing, with nude figures and marine monsters. Total height, \'^\ in. ; width of cover, 10 in. ; width of base, 6 in. So COLLEGE AXD CORPORATLOX L'LATE. There is no sucli change of style to note at the termination of the century as at its commencement ; the forms and workmanship of the reign of Queen EHzabeth maintain themselves throughout the times of James I. and his unfortunate successor. We must, however, reserve the days of these kings, of the Commonwealth^ and the reign of the Merry Monarch, for the next chapter. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III, CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF REMARKABLE SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH PLATE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY, OF MOST OF WHICH REPRODUCTIONS IN ELECTROTYPE MAY BE FOUND IN THE SOUTH KENSI'NGTON MUSEUM. THE MUSEUM CATALOGUE NUMBER IS PREFIXED TO SUCH SPECIMENS. 1880. — ^48. Cocoa-nut Cup and cover, silver-gilt. Above the flat rim of the base is a band of quatrefoil tracery ; the stem is formed by fourteen thin bars resting on leaves. The three upright flat bands enclosing the cup support the plain band forming the rim. Around the edge of the cover is a rim of small Gothic cresting, and on the top is a ball enclosed in leaves of Gothic openwork. English, sixteenth century. Height, 10 in. ; diam. at mouth of cup, 3 in. ; diam. of base, 4 in. Exeter College, Oxford. 1880. — 104. Liqueur or Spirit barrel, silver-gilt, being a tun op waggon, formerly the property of the College of St. Thomas of Aeon ; ornamented with enamels, four dolphins, on apex an eagle on a globe. Early sixteenth century. Mercers' Company, London. Hour-glass Salt. (See page 56.) Christ's College, Cambridge. The Foundress' Beaker and cover, 1507. (Seepage 57.) Christ's College, Cambridge. Bishop Fox's Chalice, 1507. (See page 50.) Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 1880. — 63. Tazza Cup and cover, gadrooned, and ornamented with stamped pattern, silver-gilt. 1515- Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 18S0. — 22. Salt-cellar, parcel-gilt, shaped like an hour-glass. (See page 58.) Ironmongers' Hall, London. 1876. — I. Cup and cover, 1523. (See page 60.) Barber Surgeons' Hall, London. M 8j college AXp CORPORATLOX ELATE. Sir Tho'.nas Pope's Chalice, 1527. (See page 51.) Trinity College, Oxford. 1880. — 61. Mazer, mounted on silver-gilt stem, 1529. (See page 61.) All Souls' College, Oxford. 1880. — 67. Mazer, with stem and foot, called the "Three Kings' Cup." (See page 62.) Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 1880.— 64. Urn-shaped Jar and cover, silver-gilt. 1533. (See page 62.) Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 1880. — 51. Cocoa-nut Cup. The base standing on three small lion supports, a trumpet-shaped stem, upon which stands the nut, enclosed by three bands of double trefoil open ornament ; the mouth has a plain rim. Height, 7 in. ; diam. at mouth, 3^ in. Queen's College, Oxford, 1880.-^79 and 79A, Silver-gilt Ewer and Salver. 1545. (See page 63 & 64.) Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. J 880. — 65. Salt and cover, ornamented in vipoiissd and engraved, silver-gilt. 1554. (See page 65.) Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 1880. — 84, Cup, silver-gilt, in form of a falcon, standing on an oblong coffret as pedestal. The bird and the lid of the coffret are wrought in rcpoitsst' work, and finished with a graver. The sides of the coffret are engraved with foliated grotesques, and in front is a medallion with laurelled bust ; ring handles in monsters' heads are attached to the ends. Left to the college by Dr. Butler. Made at Antwerp about 1550. Height, 11^ in. (See page 65.) Clare College, Cambridge. Stoneware Jug. 1563. (See page 66.) Vintners' Hall, London. 1880.— 42. Queen Mar>'s Cup and cover, c. 1560-1570 ; the additions and repairs of 1637, (See p«age 66.) Perth Cathedral. 1865. — 82. Salt-cellar on high pedestal, chased with foliage and allegorical figure, subjects in circular medallions, the summit crowned by a small statuette of a warrior. The original, of silver-gilt, forms part of the regalia in the Tower of London. English, Date about 1560. Height, 13^ in. : diam. 6 in. 1880. — 90. Tankard known as " The Poison Cup," c 1565. (Seepage 68.) Clare College, Cambridge. 1880, — 85. Tankard, serpentine, mounted in silver-gilt. The base with a minute tooth-pattern band, the upper part serrated, a thin band uniting the handle at the lower part, the upper part ■ atta-'hcd to a band of small ttpoiisst' ornament, and a wider band engraved with birds. The cover has repoiissi' strapwork COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 83 ornament, with masks, fn.iit, and llowerb. A wmged demi- figure with helmet forms the rest of the hinge. The handle engraved with floral ornament. English ; c. 1565. Height, 8 in. ; diam. 4^ in. ; diam. of mouth, 3 in. (See page 69.) Clare College, Cambridge. 1872. — 15. Goblet. The stem carved in high relief with masks, snails, lions, &c. English. Hall-mark, 1567. The original, of agate, mounted in silver-gilt, is in the South Kensington Museum, No. 38-' 67. Height, 7J in. ; diam. 1% in. 1875. — 24. Sugar-sifter. The original, of silver-gilt, ornamented with figures of Faith, Hope, and Chanty, in chased openwork, cherub heads, andcupids amongst flowers, is in the South Ken- sington Museum, No. 55i-'74. On the lid is St. George of England with a French inscription. English ; temp. Elizabeth. Height, 6 J in. ; diam 3^ in. 1880. — 73-76. Four Apostles' Spoons, selected from those given by Archbishop Parker. 1566. (See page 70.) Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 1880. — 69. Silver-gilt Cup and cover. 1569. (See page 71.) Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 18S0. — 77. Silver-gilt Tankard. 1571. (See page 72.) Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Tankard. 1574. (See page 73.) The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 1880. — 54. Cocoa-nut Cup and cover, presented by Katharine Baylye. 1584. New College, Cxford. 1880. — 13. Rose-water Dish, given by William Cfley. 1590. (See page 75.) Merchant Taylors' Hall, London. 1880. — 12. Mace, said to have been made by one Duckett in 1597, he being beadle, to replace an earlier one, which he had lost. Merchant Taylors' Hall, London. 1868. — 85. Ewer, chased with strapwork, cartouches, &c. The original of silver-gilt, is the property of her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. English. Date 1597. Height, 14 in.; width, 18 in. 1868. — 86. Salver, chased with strapwork, cartouches, 'N "1 1 Uli <- 1 'Kl oKMI' iN I'K IVKISTOL The standing salt now loses its cover, perhaps because people were less fearful as time went on of being poisoned, and it loses, COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 97 too, the cartouches and arabesques with which the drum was so constantly decorated in EHzabethan days. A pastoral scene in excellent repousse work replaces other ornament on the drum of the salt given to the Haberdashers' Company by Sir Hugh Hammersley in 1636. ' STANDING-SAI-T, 1636, AT HABERDASHERS' HALL, LONDON. 1880. — 32. Circular Salt, silver-gilt, 8 inches high, repousse, with pastoral subjects in bold relief, and a scene with a female seated with a child on her lap and another at her feet with animals. The gift of Sir Hugh Hammersley, Knight and Alderman, in 1636; hall-mark, 1635-6. Only a year later than this we come to the last of the tall standing-cups of which the three at Carpenters' Hall and the Camden Cup of the Painter-Stainers' Company have already been cited as examples, as well as the Mildmay Fane Cup at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. The cup at Haberdashers' o 98 COLLEGE AND CORI'ORATLOX PLATE. Hall, though it wants a cover, enables us to bring down this pattern of cup to the year 1637. •ITANDINO-CUP, l£j7, AT II A IhK li A- 111 Us' HAIl., I ONUON. J 880. — 30. Silver-gilt loving-cup, r<'/t7//ji<'' with foliage, and engraved bowl tapering and cup-shaped, on a baluster stem, with bell- shaped foot, and inscribed with Latin motto, I-itics ex charitah' t^^ens vah-t. It is engraved with the arms of the Company and the donor. Height, 16} in. ; diam. 6\ in. The new fashion of cup to which the long sciies of hanaps last mentioned now gives way, is j)hiiner altogether, and perhaps COLLEGE AND CORPORAJLON PLATE. 99 may be thought to indicate the coming severity of Puritan manners. The first instance upon our College and Corporation list is the cup given by Thomas Stone to the Haberdashers' Company in 1649. The earliest specimen known to the author is but ten years older. From this time they held their own with some small modifications (see the Pepys Cup, p. 109) till towards the end of the century. There is but little to be said for them as art treasures, suffice it to note that they are admirably adapted to LOVING-CUP, 1649, AT HABERDASHERS HALL, LONDON 1880. — 31. Silver-gilt loving-cup with the surface of the bowl frosted. One of a pair. Height, \\\ in. ; diam. 5j in. the social purposes for which they appear to have been so highly esteemed by the hospitable Companies of the City of London, nearly all of which possess several examples of this capacious though simple form of loving-cup. It would even seem that under the sway of the Commonwealth a larger and deeper cup than ever was required at civic gatherings. loo COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. It will be observed that the deadened or frosted surface begins to be affected by goldsmiths at this period. A very plain cup of smaller fashion is the drinking-cup, or caudle-cup, of which the Clothworkers can supply us with an example. Its perfectly simple form, total absence of all decoration, and the plain thick thumb- ring handles, all denote the period when the art of the silversmith in England was, owing to political events and social tendencies, at its lowest ebb. Augsburg and Nuremberg were at the same period pouring out by the hundred the elaborate pine-apple and CAODLE-CUl', 1654, AT CI.OTHWORICERs' HALL, LONDON. pear-shaped cups that arc to be seen in e\ery collection, bearing the marks used in those cities. Another style of decoration quite distinct from anything else, either German or English, is the Dutch repousse work of the Utrecht school, of which the student will be somewhat reminded by the engraving given on the opposite page of a drum-shaped salt at Clothworkers' Hall. The Van Viancn family were espe- cially famous for the skill with which they worked their surfaces entirely into shell-like forms, which with smooth but compli- cated volutes shape themselves at every point into grotesque COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. lot masks or sometimes only portions of faces — here a pair of staring eyes, there a monstrous nose and mouth, which testify to a mastery of the art of metal-working that has never been sur- passed. Few smiths have been able to work silver into the deep and intricate folds in which Adam Van Vianen so excelled. SALT, 1661, AT CLOTHWORKERS* HALL, LONDON. 1879. — 9- Salt-cellar, silver-gilt, repousse, and engraved with coat of arms on the side of the drum ; the gift of Daniel Waldo, Esq. It rests on three shell-shaped feet. Hall-mark, 1661. Height, 7-| in. ; diam. 5j in. We must not, however, pass further into the reign of Charles II. without a few words about the Crown Regaha, a number of the articles composing which have been reproduced by the per- mission of Her Majesty for the South Kensington Museum. It was not generally known until lately that every single piece of the older RegaHa, not even excepting the Anointing Spoon, had disappeared under the Commonwealth, and that all had to I02 COLLEGE AND CORPORATIOX PLATE. be made new for the coronation of King Charles II. at the Restoration. Most of the articles then made by Sir Robert Vyner are of the fashion of the period, but the Anointing Spoon is so good a copy of work of earlier date that it needs the evidence of the account sent in by the Crown goldsmith, giving its weight and the price charged both for silver and workmanship, to convince the con- noisseur that it is not a genuine older original preserved by some happy accident from the fate which befell the rest of the treasures of the Crown. There stands, however, the bill of Sir Robert, charging two pounds for it, and recording that it weighs three ounces and five pennyweights. It is also the only article of silver in his account, the rest being all of gold, even the well-known Ampulla or Eglet. The reader will be familiar with these objects as exhibited to the public in the Tower of London. They arc described with the Museum number attached to each of the reproductions in the list appended to the present chapter. Room must be found for a few words about plate made of gold that are suggested by the gift to Exeter College, Oxford, of a two-handled covered cup of gold by Bishop Hall, of Chester, a little after the middle of the century, of which the engraving on page 103 gives an admirable representation. Plate made of real gold is of the greatest possible rarity; what are called "gold services " being made, in truth, of silver- gilt. There were only some five specimens of gold plate exhibited in the Loan Collection of 1862 at South Kensington, and if this beautiful cup at Exeter College represents the gold plate of our college collections, a small cup of 16S0 belonging to the City of Oxford must represent that of the civic corporations. The great weight of gold plate easily distinguishes it from that which is silver gilt, and when it is remembered that a dinner-plate of standard gold would weigh much more than half as much again as a silver plate of the same si/c, and cost something like 120/. COLLEGE AND CORPOKATLON ELATE. 103 the rarity of gold dinner-services will occasion but little surprise. The series of illustrations that have been selected of the plate of the reigns of Charles 11. and James II. give a good idea of the splendour and luxury of the times which followed, when the King got his own again, and the Cavalier displaced the Round- head. The fashions of the silversmith reflect not unfaithfully CUP OF GOLD, circa 1000-70, at exeter college, oxford. 1880.— 46. Cup and cover. The original of gold given by George Hall, Bishop of Chester. It is double-handled, pine-shaped, and repousse with lozenge-shaped gadroons, the upper row of spaces and the cover ornamented with flowers. Height, 6 in. ; width, 5 in. ; including handles, 6j in. those of their brethren over the Avater. The somewhat extrava- gant acanthus ornament with which everything is entirely overlaid for a time recalls the work of the French artists and architects of I04 COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. the middle third of the reign of Louis Quatorze : and the heavy magnificence and large size of the pieces that best represent the times of the later Stuarts in England, indicate the widely spreading influence of the school that was ruled over by Mansard and Lebrun. The ^^ style vwiiumentaV that found favour in France, in England too, makes whole articles of furniture of silver instead of reserving the precious metal for their decoration only, or for tlie ornaments and vessels that may appropriately be made of it. There are many examples of this silver furniture to be consulted in the South Kensington Museum. Her Majesty the Queen possesses a table of about 1670 (1868. — 99), a mirror-frame of the same time (1868. — 98), also fire-dogs (1868.- 102); whilst the splendid silver furniture at Knole has also been, by permission, reproduced for the South Kensington Museum. From amongst the specimens at Knole has been selected the large fire-dog that is engraved on page 105. Immense jars and vases are also not uncommon, decorated in the same way as the furniture of the period. Sometimes they occur in sets resembling tlie sets of blue-and-white Chinese porcelain jars and beakers, five or sometimes seven in a set, that are so well known and so coveted h\ the collector. Such a set was the property of the late Marquess of Creadal- bane, and another is preserved at Knole with the massive furniture that has been spoken of. A jar at Knole, which is of about the year 1685, is a good example both of these objects themselves and of the decoration with which they were covered. The exam[)le on page 106 has been taken as being one of middle size ; larger ones are sometimes found, some as much as 18 in. high. Basins are not so often found as tall beakers and the Chinese jars. An illustration (page 107) is therefore added to complete this part of the subject, of a vase or bowl at Knole (1868. — 124), ornamented like the last but showing even more diiJtinctly the great acanthus leaves with which the articles of furniture are also overlaid. COLLEGE AND CORPOEATIOX ELATE. 105 FIRE-DOG, circa 1670, at knole. 1868. — 115. Fire-dog; one of a pair; the bases ornamented with busts and demi-satyrs in high relief, vase-shaped tops sur- mounted by statuettes of boys bearing fruits and implements of husbandry. They are of silver, beaten and chased. Height, 2 ft. I in. ; width of base, i ft. P io6 CO LI. EC, F. AXD CORPORATION PLATE. The sconces with which rooms were lighted at this period deserve mention wliilst we are upon the subject of the silver furniture and toilet suites of the reign of Charles II. There are several examples from Knole in the South Kensington Museum, as will be seen by the list appended to this chapter ; but they are JAU WrTH (.54. (See page 100.) CU)tluvoikers' Company, London, 1879. — 8. Cup and cover. The bowl, supported on a b.dustir stem, is ornamented with flowers and foliage chased and repousse \ the foot and cover are similarly decorated. C)n t'le bowl arc the .uins of the Company and of th'' donor, Daniel Waldo, COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 117 Master of the Company in 1655. Hall-marked same year. Height, 21 in. ; diam. 7 J in. Cloth workers' Company, London. 1880. — 46. Cup and cover. The original of gold. Given by George Hall, Bishop of Chester. (See page 103.) Exeter College, Oxford. 1866. — 3. Ampulla or anointing cruse, in form of an eagle with wings expanded. The head screws off, and the oil issues through three holes in the beak and nostrils. English. Seventeenth century. (Probably representing an earlier piece.) The original, of gold, forms part of the regalia in the Tower, of London, and is used for the oil of consecration at coronations. Height, 7f in.; width, 65 in. by 6 in. 1866. — I. Tankard. Embossed with classic figures in high relief. The original, of silver-gilt, is included in the regalia in the Tower of London. English. Seventeenth century. Height, 10 in.; diam. 8 in. 1865. — 80. Christening Font, with cover, embossed in relief with scroll foliage, natural flowers, and cherubs' heads. The cover is sur- mounted by a group of figures representing Philip baptizing the eunuch. Engraved with the crowned cypher of Charles IL The original, of silver-gilt, forms part of the regalia in the Tower of London. English. Date, about 1660. Height, 3 ft. li in.; diam. i ft. 5{ in. 1805.- — 81. Salver of christening font, embossed in relief with scroll foliage, natural flowers, and cherubs' heads, and engraved with the royal arms. The original, of silver-gilt, forms part of the regalia in the Tower of London. English. Date, about 1660. Diam. i ft. ii in. 1865. — ']']. Spoon. The bowi engraved with foliated scrolls, the shaft enriched with filigree work, and set with four pearls. The original, of silver-gilt, called "The Anointing Spoon," and used in the ceremony of the coronation, forms part of the regalia in the Tower of London. English. Date, 1660. Length, 10^ in.; width of bowl, 2 in. 1 866. — 2. Salt-cellar. The base embossed with acanthus-leaves, with a dome-shaped cover embossed with flowers surmounted by a rudely-moulded figure of a cavalier. English. Seventeenth century. The original, of silver-gilt, forms part of the regalia in the Tower of London. Height, \\\ in. ; diam. ^\ in. 1865. — 83. Wine P^ountain. The bowl embossed with subjects of ii8 COLLEGE AXD CORPORATION PLATE. marine deities, surrounded by cartouche uork ; the stand or stem decorated with foliage and figures of mermaids ; the upper part of the fountain forms a quadrangular pedestal, against each face of which stands a statuette in full relief surmounting a shell, the figures represent Neptune, Hercules (?\ with a dolphin, and two sea-nymphs. On the summit of the pedestal is placed a statuette of Cleopatra with the asp. The original, of silver-gilt, forms part of the regalia in the Tower of London. English. Second half of seventeenth century. Height, 2 ft. 6 in.; diam. 2 ft. 4 in. 1879. — 9. Salt-cellar. The original, of silver-gilt. (See page loi.) The gift of Daniel Waldo, Esq. The drum-shaped stand rests on a base supported on three shell-feet. English. 1661. Height, 8 in. ; diam. 6J in. Clothworkers' Company, London. 18S0. — 95. Loving-cup. Silver-gilt, with frosted sides. Gift of William Fisher, in 1662. Hall-mark, 1661. Saddlers' Company, London. l83o.— 83. Two-handled Caudle-cup, with cover. Silver-gilt. Date, 1662. Gift of Henry Fane, Karl of Westmoreland. Emmanuel College, Cambridge. i33o. — 28. Large silver tankard or flagon, with cover. Dated and hall-marked, 1670. Gift of Thomas .Arnold. One of a pair. Height, I4i in.; diam. 6 in.; with broad spreading foot. Haberdashers' Company, London. 1868, — 102. Fire-dog, on a quadrangular base, and surmounted by an urn ; on one side is the monogram of Charles H., on the other has subsequently been engraved the arms of the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. The original is the property of Her Majety the Ouccn, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. English. Date, about 1670. The base modern. Height, 2 ft. 4 in. ; width, i ft. 4 in. i863. — 99. Table, covered with foliage in repottssi' work, and bearing the monogram of Charles IL The original, of silver, is the property of Her l^Lajesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. English. Date, about 1670. Height, 2 ft. 9 in. ; top, 3 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 4 in. i36S. — 98. Frameof a mirror. /wy^r'//.M/ work, ilecoratcd with festoons of flowers interspersed with Cupids ; at the top, within a car- touche, is a shield containing the cypher of Charles IL The original, of silver, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 119 Castle. English. Date, about 1670. Height, 6 ft. 9 in.; width, 4 ft. I in. 1880. — 91. Salver and Ewer. Silver-gilt. Oblong, with corners cut off, repouss^, with foliated arabesques, masks, and strapwork, the centre raised to receive the base, of the ewer ; on this centre is a coat of arms faintly pounced and engraved round " Ex done Edwardi Villiers, generosi 1671." Beneath the dish are the arms of England and France quarterly, and round this " Collegium Divi Johannis Cant." Length, i/f in. ; width, 133- in. Ewer octagonal in plan to match. Height, 9^ in. St. John's College, Cambridge. 1879. — 12. Cup and cover. Silver-gilt. The bowl, resting on a bold baluster stem, is chased and trpousse, and bears the arms of the Company and of the donor, John Sanders, Esq. English. Hall-mark, 1672. Diam. 17!^ in. Grocers' Company, London. 1872. — 9. Cup and cover, two-handled, with repousse or beaten work acanthus band at the base, and gyrating similar ornament on the cover, surmounted by a melon. English. Hall-mark, 1676. The original, of silver, is in the South Kensington Museum, No. 51,— '65. Height, 6J in. ; width, 9^ in. 1876.— 2. The "Royal Oak Cup." (See page 108.) Dated 1676. Height 18 in.; diam. 6 in. Barber Surgeons' Company, London. 1879. — 6. The " Pepys Cup." (See page 109.) 1677. Height, 23 in.; diam. S in. Clothworkers' Company, London. 1868. — 122. Tabb, of silver, beaten and chased. (See page 104.) On the top in the centre is the contest of Apollo and Pan, in low relief at each corner an earl's coronet and monogram of the letters F.D.H.P. ; scroll legs and pendent front, and a crown of foliage at the intersection of the strengthening bars. Date, 1680. Length, 3 ft. 5 in.; width, 2 ft. 10 in.; height, 2 ft. 7 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 135. Mirror frame, matching the table, with foliage, boys, and masks ; on the top an earl's coronet and a monogram. Large flowers are the chief decorations, but they are merged in the surrounding indented work. Height, 5 ft. 6 in. ; width, 3 ft. 5 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1S6S. — 137. Beaker, of silver, beaten and chased ; with Hons'. masks, fruit, and foliage. (See page 104.) Height, 15 in.; diam. 6 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 132. Dish, of beaten silver, with four handles ; in the centre 120 COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. a chase in low relief, on which is fixed the Sackville shield of arms, with broad border of birds, flowers, and fruit, in open- work, c. 1675. Length, 2 ft. i in.; width, i ft. 7 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 115. Fire-dog. (Sec page 105.) Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868.— 114. Fire-dog, of silver, beaten and chased. The babe em- bossed with festoons, supporting vases with flammate tops. Height, 2 ft. 7 in.; width, i ft. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 116. Sconce, of silver, beaten and chased. Back plate with festoons of fruit, with Sackville arms in centre, the socket of a candlestick projecting on a branch, c. 1680. Height, 16 in.; width, 10 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 117. Sconce, of beaten silver, with fohage and Sackville shield and coronet. Height, 10 in. ; width, 7 in. Same period as the last. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 118 and 119. Sconces, a pair, of beaten silver. In the centre a warrior with a club, surrounded by border of fruits. Same period as last. Height, 18 in.; width, 13^ in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 186S. — 121. Tripod for candelabrum. One of a pair, of silver, beaten and chased. Fruit and foliage on a tripod base ; on the top coronet and monogram to match other articles of the suite. (See page 104.) Date, 1676. Height, 3 ft. 10 in.; width of base, I ft. 7 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1 868. — 123. Vase, Chinese jar shape, gadrooned, and band of rams' heads. Silver, beaten and chased. Date, 1680 — 90. Height, 16 in. ; width, 12 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 124. Vase, open basin shape. Date, 1680 — 90. (See page 107.) Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 127 and 128. \'asc, Chinese jar pattern. Date, 16S0— 90. (See page 106.) Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868. — 129. Vase, like the last, but larger. Date, 1680— 90. Height, 16 in. ; width, 10 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1868.— 130. Vase, larger still. Date, 1680—90. Height, 18 in. ; width, 1 1 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. A 880.^87. Tankard, silver. The lower part of the bowl has acanthus leaf ornament in rcpoiissi' ; above is engraved a shield of arms of the college, inscribed '•Coll. sive -Aul. de Clare"; and also the arms of the donor, inscribed " Ex dono Ceorgii Cooke Armigeri hujus Collegii commensali, 1678." The lid has three roses in a /v7>fl//jj/ wreath. Date, 1678. Height, 7i in. ; diam. 6} in. Clare College, Cambridge. COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 121 1880. — 8. Silver-gilt Cup. 16S0, Gift of John Brett, junior, one of the wardens in 16S0. On baluster stem, body in frosted work ; weight, 97 ounces 2 pennyweights. Another exactly similar cup vas given the same year by John Brett, senior; weight, 91 ounces 3 pennyweights. Merchant Taylors' Company, London. 1880. — 16. Dublin Tankard. 1680. (See page in.) Merchant Taylors' Company, London. 1869. — 64. Mirror frame, ebony, with silver mounts, beaten and chased, consisting of scrolls in relief, and a monogram sur- mounted by a coronet. English, c. 1680-90. Height, 4 ft. 8 in. ; width, 3 ft. I in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1880. — loi. Covered cup, with two handles. Given 1681, by P. Rich. Hall-marked same year. Repousse, with foliage on the top, and the body having a handsome border to match. Height, 8 in. ; diam. 7 in. Saddlers' Company, London. (See p. 1 10.) 1880. — 59. Cup and cover, silver-gilt, with two handles ; temp. Charles IL This is a porringer, or broth bowl, ornainented with cut cardwork, engraved with the arms of Clark, and the initials, G. C. All Souls' College, Oxford. 1865. — 76. Tazza, beaten work, with figures of Jupiter, Diana, and two other deities. English. The original, of silver, is in the South Kensington Museum. No. 240, — 1879. Hall-mark, 1683. Height, i\ in. ; diam. iii in. 1880.— II. Silver-gilt Ewer. Gift of Thomas Wardall. 1681. Cut cardwork. This is an early instance of the helmet-shaped ewer, which afterwards became very popular. Merchant Taylors' Company, London. Octagonal Salt. 1685. Gift of Henry Sumner, Esq. (See page 112.) Mercers' Company, London. 1880. — 24. Bargemaster's Badge, mounted as lid of snuff-box. 1689. Haberdashers' Company, London. 1868. — 120. Chandelier, one of a pair ; the centre vase-shaped, with three terminal cupids ; the original of silver, engraved and chased. Late seventeenth century. Height, 3 ft. ; width, i ft. 6 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. (See page 107). 1868. — 136. Mirror. Octagonal, with branches; on the top a floral ornament between corner-pieces. It has two narrow borders ; the tulip and rose being the elements of ornament in the beaten work, which is bold. The silver branches hold one candle each, they have plain nozzles and a wide grease pan. R 122 COLLEGE A AD CORPORATION PLATE, Lnd of seventeenth century. Height, 2 ft. lo in. ; width, 2 ft. 8 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. iSSo. — I. Standing-cup and cover, silver repousst'. The base has a band of gadroon pattern ornament, and supports a baluster stem ; the bowl has a repousst gadroon pattern on the lower half, and above a band of floral ornament ; the upper half is plain engraved with the arms of the college and of the donors, and inscribed "Ex dono Gulielmi Duncombe filij Gulielmi Uuncombe Armigeri." The cover, with a gadroon band, is surmounted by a horse's leg rising out of a coronet. Irish. End of the seventeenth century. Height, 23^ in. ; height of cup, 16 in. ; diam. of cover, 8:^ in. ; diam. of base and mouth, ']\ in. Trinity College, Dublin. 1865. — 79. Salver or Altar-dish. The centre embossed in high relief, with a composition representing the Supper at Enimaus, below which is a cartouche bearing the cypher of William III. and Queen Mary, the margin chased with scroll foliage and cherubs' heads. The original, of silver-gilt, forms part of the regalia in the Tower of London. English. Date, about 1690. Diam. 2 ft. 3i in. 1865. — 78. Flagon, with foliated scroll-work, cherubs' heads, etc., in repoiissd or beaten work ; in front a cartouche with cyphers of William HL and Queen Mary. The original, of silver- gilt, forms part of the regalia in the Tower of London. English. Seventeenth century. Height, 17^ in. ; diam. 9? in. 1880. — 102. The Sawyer Tankard. Date, 1695. A tapering tankard, with cover, large bow handle and purchase. The gift of John Sawyer, late Master of the Company. Height, 7^ in. ; diam. 6 in. Saddlers' Company, London. 1879. — II. Staff-head, of silver, with the arms of the Company in relief. English. 1694. Height, 13 in. ; width, 9 in. Clothworkers' Company, London. 1868. — 91. Fire-dog, surmounted by a boy holding a basket of fruit; in front is the crowned cypher of William HI. The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. Date, 1696. Height, 18 in.; width, 10 in. 1868. — 92. Fire-dog, surmounted by a boy holding a basket of fruit ; in front is the crowned cypher of William HL The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 123 forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. Date, 1696. Height, 18 in. ; width, 10 in. 5. — 100. Table. The upper surface chased with the arms of William III. in the centre. The original, of silver, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. English. Date, about 1700. Height, 2 ft. 7 in. ; top, 4 ft. by 2 ft. \\ in. J. — 63. Table. Ebony, with silver mounts, beaten and chased, consisting of scrolls in relief, and a monogram surmounted by a coronet. English. Late seventeenth century. Height, 2 ft. 55- in. ; length, 3 ft. 4 in.; width, 2 ft. 3 in. Lord Sackville, Knole. 1873. — 373' Salt-cellar. Ornamented with foliage in beaten work; on one side are pricked the letters VaM. The original, of silver, was the property of the late Rev. H. R. Moody. English. Seventeenth century. Height, 7 in. ; width, 7I in. 1880. — 2. Cup and cover. Silver-gilt. The base has a rim of gadroon pattern, and supports a baluster stem. The lower half of the bowl is fluted with an upper edge of leaf pattern. On the upper half of the bowl are two shields of arms. Trinity College, Dublin. 1880. — 98. Rosewater Dish, repousse with fruit and flowers ; in the centre a raised boss within a wreath having a coat of arms with crest and motto. Circa, 1680. Saddlers' Company, London. 1880. — 100. Ewer, to match the last. Height, c)\ in. ; diam. ^\ in. Saddlers' Company, London. 1880. — 97. Staff-head of beadle's mace. Saddlers' Company, London. CHAPTER V. THE QUREN ANNE AND GEORGIAN PERIODS. New Sterling Silver — London Silversmitlis of the Eighteenth Century and their Marks — Queen Anne Plate — The later Fashions of the Century — Specimens of Flate illustrating each Teriod. From the commencement of the eighteenth centur}', or, to speak exactly, from the year 1697, the registers of the Goldsmiths' Company, as regards makers' names and their marks, are much more minutely kept, and have been with small exception preserved. Of the new standard of silver, which was used from that time for some twenty-three years exclusively, notice has already been taken. But in consequence of this change, and to ensure the proper marking of plate made of the new standard, it was appointed that all goldsmiths should destroy their former punches and enter fresh marks in the books of the Company, using for the future with the new standard n:arks the first two letters of their siiruamcs instead of their ordinary initials or any other private mark,^ The books containing these fresh entries, which give us not only the names of the craftsmen, but the mark used by each, struck upon the page against his name from his own registered punch, with the date, enable us to identify henceforward the pro- ductions of almost every workshop, and they seem to show that one or two of the most eminent smiths of the earlier part of the century were of Dutch or French extraction, Peeter Hariacke, whose mark is well-known, must have been Dutch, whilst Pierre * For its other marks see Old English PUiU, 2nd edition, London, iSSi. COLLEGE AND COLiPORATLON PLATE. 125 Platel and Paul Lamerie were certainly Frenchmen. The latter was the most eminent London goldsmith of the reigns of Georg^i I. and George II. These all worked in the higher quality of metal, which we may add was of the standard long used in France, and known as "the King's silver." The policy of the Acts of Parliament which usher in the period in which we now find our- selves was to preserve the coin of the realm and to increase the supply of it ; but they do not seem to have been very effectual, for even in 17 18 we find the minister of the day, Lord Stanhope, complaining of the scarcity of silver coin, and attributing it to " the increasing luxury in relation to plate," as well as to other causes. The export trade of the East India Company kept up a considerable drain, and Lord Stanhope even hints at "the malice of some persons who by hoarding up silver thought to distress the Government." However this may all be, it was found that plate made of the new quality of silver was not so hard nor so durable in use as articles made of old sterling silver, and in 1720 that ancient national standard was again restored once more. The newer standard was not abolished, but both were made legal, and have been in use ever since, though little work, comparatively speaking, has been executed in metal of the higher quality since 1735 or thereabouts. The new mark mentioned above had been invented for use on new sterling plate only, so the restoration of the old standard occasioned some uncertainty as to what was the proper mode of marking it, and between 1720 and 1739 the marking of all plate became somewhat irregular, at least so far as the makers' own marks were concerned. In the last-named year, however, all such matters were resettled on their present basis, and makers have ever since used their ordinary initials. The only other remarks that need be made about the trade regulations of the century are that gold of 18 carats was first allowed in 1798; the older standard of purity having been 2 2 carats, or the standard of the gold coin 126 COLLEGE AND CORJ'ORATION I^ATE. of the realm ; and that a duty upon sihcr plate has existed in its present form since 1784. The mark of the Sovereign's Head, which marks the payment of this duty, has been in existence from that year. The names and dates of some of the principal goldsmiths of the eighteenth century follow : — William Denny and John Bathe, 1697. John Ruslen, 1697. John Sutton, 1697. Anthony Nelme, 1697. David Williams, 1697. William Gamble, 1697. Benjamin Watts, 1698. Peeter Ilarracke, 1698. Robert Timbrell, 1699. Pierre Platel, 1699. William Lukin, 1699. Simon Pantin, 1701. William Ffawdony, 1701. Humphrey Payne, 1701. Benjamin Pyne, 1701. John Lady man, 1704. Matthew Lofthouse, 1705. Edward York, 1705. Gabriel Sleath, 17 10. Poul Lameric, 1712. Anne Tanqueray, 1713. John Eckfourd, 1720. George Wickes, 1721. Isaac Callard, 1726. Paul Crespin, 1727. Charles Kandlcr, 1729. Augustin Courtauld, 1729. Robert Abercromby, 173 1. Richard Gurney and Co., 1754 Elen Coker, 1739. William Garrard, 1739. John Harvey, 1739. John Swift, 1739. COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE, 127 Jacob Marshe, 1744. Edward Wakelin, 1 747. Robert Rew, 1754. Whipham and Wright, 1757. Parker and Wakelin, 1759. David and Robert Hennel, 1763. Wakelin and Tayler, 1776. John Scofield, 1778. Hester Bateman, 1774- Smith and Sharp, 1780. Pitts and Preedy, 1791. Paul Storr, 1792. Wakelin and Garrard, 1792. John Emes, 1796. The above dates have been taken in most cases from the entries in the books at Goldsmiths' Hall ; but failing such evidence, the date given is that of the earliest piece of plate known to the author, bearing the private mark of the maker or firm against whose name it appears. Turning from the workmen to their work, we find that as in France the style known as that of Louis XIV. lasted till the very- end of that great monarch's reign, so in England, notwithstanding political events that might have tended to introduce Dutch or Danish fashions, the styles prevalent in the reign of Charles II. and William III. held their own till about 1720. There is less and less of the extravagant acanthus ornament as time goes on, and there is greater purity of form, but the simplicity which succeeds still retains a good deal of the former massive grandeur. We shall see this in the great punch-bowls, immense wine-fountains and cisterns of the reign of Queen Anne. Plate still seems to be bought and valued rather for its weight than its beauty of design or excellence of execution. There is a no less strongly-marked correspondence from 1720 to the end of the century between the work done in England and France ; and yet, notwithstanding this continual connection 128 COLLEGE AXD CORPORATION PLATE. between the art fashions of the two countries, the platj of each has characteristics of its own which enable the connoisseur to say at a glance whether work is English or French. In France there is first the charming style called the " Style dt la Rcgence," so dear to French amateurs, who are never tired of its flat chasing and low reliefs with their delicate effects of light and shade. This prevails for some twenty years from 1 7 1 5, and then gives place to the rococo of the earlier years of Louis XV. The Regency plate finds its reflection in England, especially as regards shapes, those in vogue in France being equally found in England, but with less of the surface-ornamentation. The rococo period, too, in the same way is indicated by the chased fruit and flower and insect work that we find during the later years of Paul Lamerie, who died in 175 1. In France utter irregularity of form and outline is the charac- teristic feature, not only of the ornamentation that was used, but of the objects to which it was applied. In England, shells, insects, fruits or fish, cover, and almost hide sometimes, vessels of shapes that had been popular for a generation, whilst in France the vessels themselves are formed as vegetables, shells, fish, and the like. Meissonnier would shower a whole basketful of shell-fish on to the cover of a soup tureen of new and fanciful design. Paul Lamerie would reserve such objects for the decoration of cups and ewers of a shape that he might have made twenty years before. The later and best period of the reign of Louis XV. is perhaps the most familiar of all. There is then less of the utter irregularity of the rococo period, thougli a profusion of ornament in the way of festoons, scrolls, and gadrooning intermingling with them, prevails extensively. The coffee-pot of the Salters' Company, presently to be mentioned, is a good example of the English version of this style; to which succeeds in both countries at about 1770 the classical treatment that in France forms the style called "Z<;///.f Seize,'' and in England connects itself in our niiiuls witli the names of Wedgwood and Flaxman, and the brothers Adam. COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 129 Nothing can exceed the beauty of the best examples of the Louis XVI. period in France, with its graceful wreaths looped up over medallions, or tied with riband knots ; the delicate hinds' feet which are such a distinctive feature of the style will also recur to the mind. These last are not so often found in England, but they will appear in our illustration of a beautiful chocolate-pot of 1777 in the South Kensington Museum; all the other characteristics are common to the work of both countries. There is little to be said about the domestic plate of the century; much was made to meet the general needs of the ever widening classes, to whom the daily use of silver at table was becoming a necessity rather than a luxury. Old plate was constantly being melted to be re-iriade into forks, which were now coming into general use in every respectable house ; much more was sacrificed to supply the metal required for the silver or silver-gilt dinner-services, which were affected by the rich and great in the second half of the century ; some, too, seems to have been destroyed merely from a feeling that it was old-fashioned. IMost of the family plate in use at the present day was made between the accession of George III. and the end of the century, some little in the reign of George II., but older plate is very scarce and rare, as the collector finds to his cost. Turning to the examples selected to illustrate what has been said, the great wine-fountain and cistern that, by permission of the late Earl of Chesterfield, were reprodused for the South Kensington ]\Iuseum, and one of the many fine Monteiths or punch-bowls that are to be found amongst the treasures of the great City Companies, may stand for the period that corresponds to the last years of Louis XIV. of France, or to the greater part of the reign of Queen Anne in England. The large size of all these vessels, their plain fluting or gadrooning, and massive scroll- work, are all most characteristic of the time. These punch-bowls seem to have been especially popular from about 1688 to 1720. They are usually of the higher 130 COI.LF.GE AXD CORPORAT/O.V PLATE. standard silver. Their movable rims had escallops or indentations in which the punch-glasses were hung with the feet outwards, for the purpose of carrying them into the room. The punch was tlien made, and tlie rim was eventually replaced as a crown to the bowl, in token that the brew was complete and made to per- fection, after the glasses had been distributed to the company. MONTKITH, 1702, AT VINTNERS 11 All., LONDON. It is said that these punch-bowls were named after a gentleman of fashion who was remarkable for wearing a scalloped coat. Th£ immense fountain and its companion cistern retain even mere of the massive grandeur of the style dc Louis XIV. 'i'he fountain is engraved opposite, and the cistern on page 132. A very similar fountain came into the market a year or two ago, amongst what were adverti.sed as '-the Gregory heir- looms," anil was sold at Messrs. Christie and Man.son's Rooms ; l)ul the best known of these gigantic sj)ecimens which are .so peculiar to the (Jueen .Anne ])eriod are in the Spencer collection. COLLEGE AND COREO RATION ELATE. 131 They were made for the great Duke of Marlborough, and were contributed by Earl Spencer to the Loan Collection at South }ffrrr r WINt FOUNTAIN, circa 171 ,868.-103. Wine-foun tain and cover, of silver, with fluted and gad- rooned surface, the cover surmounted by crest of a lion issuing from a castle. Date, circa 1710; height, 4 ft- 2 in. ; width, 3 ft. 6 in. Kensington in 1862. The fountain shows the same kind of spiral fluting, and the cistern convex fluting on the lower part, with a gadrooned border. These are by Peeter Harracke. 132 COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. The three-branched candlestick of the Haberdashers' Com- pany (1800.— 25) is a good type of the next prevailing fashion, called in France the style of the Regency, which, roughly speak- ing, corresponds with the reign of George I. Succeeding to the candlesticks of which mention has been made in the preceding chapter, candlesticks of this present fashion, however, last th rough a longer period in England. At first quite plain, as in our illus- tration (page 133), later on, in the time of George II., they would be ornamented with diagonal gadroons or flutes, increasing in quantity and elaboration, year by year, until a new fashion has developed itself out of the old one, and we find ourselves in the Louis Qui/ize period. pyv. • / r . ■ i --j » , . ■ -fc ■ '«. ■ » l)« »„ ...wv^M-^v^l WINE CISTERN, Circa 1701. 1868.— 104. Winc-coolcr or cistern of silver, with fluted and gadrooned surface, lion handles and claw feet. Date, circa 17 10. Height, I ft. 4 in. ; diani. 2 ft. 7 in. X 3 ft. 8 in. The French candlesticks of the time of the Regency would differ from our illustration only in having the flat portions of the stem and foot formed into shallow panels, each containing a string of guillocJie or plait-work, or other ornament of similar style, whilst the projecting boss on the stem might bear medal- lions with classical heads in relief. The later English candlesticks of the century are wholly without interest. They are either as Corinthiap columns or, if of the very end of the ( cntury, they have vasc-shapcd tops, the vases, COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 133 and also the square bases, being ornamented with the hanging wreaths of the period. Of the Corinthian column pattern those at New College, Oxford, are as good examples as any others (1880. — 57). They are of Sheffield make, and of the year 1773. Articles for the service of the tea-table came into common use with the reign of George I., though a few earlier tea-pots are CANDELABRUM, 1714, AT HACEKUASHEKS HALL, LONDON. known. Like everytliing else at that time they are plain, the tall chocolate or coffee pots especially so. They are usually simple tapering cylinders, or sometimes of octagonal plan also tapering, the lids following the shape of the drums. A good many of the best tea-kettles still in use are of the reign of George II. Of these there is no better example than one that is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and has been repro- duced {see p. 134) by the gracious permission of Her Majesty. 134 COLLEGE AND CORPORA TIOX PLATE. Of the same date, or a few years earlier, are the charming little tea-spoons of the Barber Surgeons' Company. They are the only spoons of this century of wliich illustrations need be given. The next English fashion that is clearly marked is tliat which obtains least favour in France, where the rococo period is now at its height. It is the style of the earlier part of the reign of Oeorge II. TEA-KETTI.E, I732, THE PKOI'ERTY OF HEK MAJESTY THE (JUKEN. 186S. — 84. Silver-gilt kettle and stand, with lamp. The kettle melon- shaped and standing in a triangular salver, date 1732. The original forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. Height, 12 in. ; width, 11 in. which retains the shapes of the preceding period, but loads them with ornament, chiefly in the way of fruit and flowers, and masks. Excellent examples of it are to be found at Goldsmiths' Hall in the articles which come next on our list of illustrations ; a great two-handled cup and cover, and a ewer, both of them from the hand of Paul Lamcrie {see pages 136, 137). COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 135 ^^^^ TEA-SPOONS, circa 1730, at barber surgeons' hall, LONDON. 1876.— 5. Tea-spoon ; the bowl having a shield of arms, the stem a phoenix and flowers. Circa 1730. Length, 41 in. ; width, | in. 1876.-4. Another ; the bowl leaf pattern, the stem with shell and scroll-work. C7;rrt 1730. Length, 4^ in. ; width, i in. 136 COLLEGE A A J) CORPORA LION PLATE. The former retains the shape of the pUiin and massive two- handled covered cups that were so well known in the reign of Queen Anne, hut it is covered with the most elaborate chasing of the kind we have been describing. TWD-HANDI-ED CUF AND COVKK, 1739, AT G<)I.DSMn■H^ IIAI.I.. LONDON. 1880.— 109. Two-handled cup and cover, of silver-gilt, richly orna- mented with bosses of flowers, etc., and salyrs'-hcads alternately round the bowl, in the later style of Paul Lamcric. Date, 1739. The i)ropcrly of the Goldsmiths' Company. Tlie great helmet-shaped ewer belonging to the same gild is even more fidly decorated in similar fashion, and is by the same great goldsmith. The m:irine attributes on the foot of this last specimen are the COLLEGE AND CORrORATION PLATE. \ii EWER, 1741, AT GOLDSMITHS HAI.I,, LONDON. 1880.— I oS. Ewer, silver-gilt, 19 inches high, executed in high-relief, on the front, under the lip, the arms and supporters of the Goldsmiths' Company. On the lower part of the vase, a winged mermaid with two tails, accompanied by two boy tritons blow- ing conch-shells. The foot is decorated with marine flowers, shells, and reptiles ; the upper part of the vase with festoons of flowers and the badges of the Company, viz. leopards' heads. The handle is a very bold half-length of a sea-god terminating in foliage. The salver to match is heavier in style and not so effective as the ewer. 1' i3« COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. nearest approach to the French that we have yet noticed. A French ewer of the same date would be much fluted, and perhaps show waves of water round the lower part, bulrushes rising from tliem, slicll-fish round tlie foot, and a snail or whelk on the cover, but with the same kind of figure for handle. Much of the celebrity that the name of Paul Lamerie has earned is owed to the personal attention he seems to have paid to all the work produced in his atelier. Notwithstanding the number of pieces that may be found bearing his mark, it would appear that he employed but two journeymen, and he had no partner. '\o one of these journeymen he intrusted by his will, which was made two months before his death in 1751, the duty of preparing his unsold stock for sale on behalf of his widow and daughters, by " boiling and burnishing." He sometimes styles himself Paul Lamerie, and at other times Paul de Lamerie. His executors were Frenchmen, and he worked in Soho, all facts which, besides his name, point to his foreign origin. That he had no son accounts for the disappearance of the name from the books of the Goldsmiths' Company at his death. The coffee-pot of 1764, in the possession of the Salters' Company, is chosen (page 139) to represent the mixture of flower ornament with diagonal gadrooning that is so cliaracteristic of the middle years of the century both in England and France. It is a good example of the latest of the three periods into whicli we divide the reign of Louis XV., which we may remind the English reader lasted until 1774, or fourteen years into the reign of George HL This brings us to the last portion of the century, and to the last stage in our historical sketch of English goldsmiths' work. The foliage and gadroons, equally with the more rococo fashions of the second and the greater part of the third quarter of the century, give way almost at once, about 1770, to the classical style that is best known as Louis Seize. That there was a moment of transition is indicated by such a tea-uin as that of the COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 139 Barber Surgeons' Company, which is the subject of the woodcut on page 140, and is an example which shows that the new style did not come to full perfection at once. It marks, however, in a decided manner, the death of Loins Quinze taste. The shape, COFFEE-HOT, 1704, AT SALTERs' HALL, LONDON. 1879. — 13. Coffee-pot, of silver, chased, and rt-poussc with floral ornament, and having a pierced foot. Inscribed " The gift of Mr. Henry Greg," with shield of arms of the Company. Date, 1764 ; height, 12 in. ; width of bowl, 5^. in. the acorn head, the bands of ornament, the handles, all prepare us for the coming fashion, one of the chief characteristics of which is that it makes everything oval that can possibly be got into such a form. I40 COLLEGE AND CORPORATLO^ST PLATE. Salvers, tea-urns, salt-cellars, goblets, arc all oviform wiih very pointed ends or bottoms, as the case may be, from about 1770 till within a very little of the end of the century. It was the discovery of Pompeii that turned the thoughts of designers into A I I., LONDON. 1S76. — 10. .Silver urn. On tlic bowl are two shields of arms ; the handles and rims of the foot and bowl are of leaf ornament ; the spout is in the form of a dolphin's liead. 1771. Height, 17I in. ; diam. SA in. this classical direction. It is perhaps the most Aimiliar of any past style to our minds ; partly owing to the great popularity of Wedgwood ware, and partly owing to the numberless houses in COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 141 London that have until lately preserved, some externally, and others internally in their ceilings and chimney-pieces, the no less popular work of the brothers Adam. We are fortunately able to CHOCOLATE-POT, 1777, THE PKOPERTY OF THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. 1875. — 27. Chocolate-pot with cover, of silver. The body semi-ovoid on three legs, capped by satyr masks, with festoons, flowers, and foliage, and bands of beading, the feet resting on a triangular base. The original is No. 1875. — 460, in the South Kensington Museum. command a couple of unusually excellent examples to illustrate this closing step. One is the property of the South Kensington Museum itself, and is engraved above. 142 COLLEGE AND CORI'ORATLON PL.ATE. The other, with which we must end the century, is from amongst the treasures of the Merchant Taylors' Company oi London, one of those great gilds to whose liberal-minded co- CVV AND COVER, I795, THE PKOI'ERTY OK TlIK .MKKI.IIANT TAVl.uRs" COMI'ANV. 1880. — 9. Cup and covcr^ of silver, the cup oval, poiiUcd, witli two liandlcs, the cover surmounted by tlie lamb, llie crest of the Company. Date, 1795. operation in art matters with Her Majesty's lldutaiioii Depart- ment the public owes so much. COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 143 By the readiness with which the owners and custodians of all that is most valuable and characteristic of Old English Plate have answered to the appeal of the Committee of Council on Education, the South Kensington Museum is thus, as we have seen, able to offer, for the examination of students and amateurs, a series of examples that illustrate the work and styles of every succes- sive generation of English gold and silver smiths for at least five hundred years past ; and by the help of the present sketch, and especially of the engravings, chronologically arranged, that accom- pany it, the place which almost any specimen of English gold- smiths' work occupies in the art-history of the craft, and therefore its approximate date, may, it is the author's hope, be easily and correctly estimated. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST , OF REMARKABLE SPF.CIMKN'S OF ENGLISH PLATE OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES, OK MOST OF WHICH REPRODUCTIONS IN ELECTROTYPE MAY BE FOUND IN THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. THE MUSEUM CATALOGUE NUMBER IS PREFIXED TO SUc:H SPECIMENS. 1880. — 10. Monteith, silver-gilt, gift of Mr. J. Church in 1700. Made by A. Xeline. Merchant Taylors' Company, London. 1880. — 27. Monteith or Punch-bowl, gift of JohnWyberd, of IJritannia standard silver. Early eighteenth century. Haberdashers' Company, London. Monteith, 1702. Maker, Ffawdony. (Seepage 130.) Vintners' Com- pany, London. 1880. — 4. Punch-bowl, of silver. The bowl fluted, with two handles, and a shield of arms, inscribed, '" Ex dono Plunketti Plunket sociorum comensalis decimo septimo Octob'^ die, 1702." The base of plain ribbed pattern. The edge ornamented with cherubs' heads and strapwork. Irish. Early eighteenth cen- tury. Height, Si in. ; diam. 10 in. ; base, 6^ in. Trinity College, Dublin. 1880. — 5. Punch-ladle. The bowl is fluted, with shields of arms, a square stem, the end of the handle curled with leaf-pattern ornament. Irish. Early eighteenth century. Length, 14 in. Trinity College, Dublin. 1875. — 26. Tankard. The original, of silver, ;v/^//j.r/ with strapwork, masks, and fruit, is in the South Kensington Museum, No. 55S-1874. English. Hall-mark, 1703-4. Height, 7J in. ; diam. si in- 1S76. — 6, Punch-bowl, of silver, oval. The bowl is ornamented with strapwork, the handles formed by half-length female figures. Dated 1704. Height, 6J in. ; width, 12 in. ; length, including handles, 22 in. Barber Surgeons' Company, London. 1S76. — 8. Punch-ladle, of silver, with a guinea of (hieen .Anne's COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON I'LATE. 145 reign in the bowl. English. About 1704. Length, 7 in. ; width, 3j in. Barber Surgeons' Company, London. 1870. — 7. PunHi-ladle, of silver. In the bowl is a medal of Queen Anne, on the outer rim an inscription. English. Dated 1704- Barber Surgeons' Company, London. 1876. — 9. Top of a Staff. The socket of baluster shape, supporting the arms of the company, surmounted by a helmet and pegasus. English. 1710. Height, 16 in. ; width 7 in. Barber Surgeons' Company, London. 1880.— 19. Cup, silver-gilt. The cup is plain without ornament, the bowl is supported on a baluster stem, and is engraved with the arms of the donor and of the company, but with wild cats instead of lizards as supporters. It is inscribed, " Ex Dono Gulielmi Humphreys, miles et nuper Vicecom ; Londini ad Societatem, 1706." English. 1706. Height, 14:^ in. ; diam. 7 in. Ironmongers' Company, London. 1868. — 103. Wine-fountain and cover. (See page 131.) The original, of silver, was the property of the late Earl of Chesterfield. English. Date, about 17 10. 1868. — 104. Wine-cooler or Cistern. (See page 132.) The original, of silver, was the property of the late Earl of Chesterfield. Enghsh. Date, about 17 10. iSSo. — 25. Branch-candlestick. 1714. (See page 133.) Haber- dashers' Company, London. 1880. — 20. Tankard and cover, silver-gilt. It stands on four lions couchant, the plain bowl having a fluted band in the centre. The cover, also without ornament, has a baluster-shaped knop, and is hinged to the handle which is surmounted also by a lion. English. 1713- Height, 9 in. ; diam. 6 in. Ironmongers' Com- pany, London. 1880. — 88. Cup and cover, called the " Tipping Cup," silver-gilt. The base has a toothed band, the lower part of the bowl having fleur-de-lys "cut card" ornament; above is engraved the arms of the donor, and inscription, " Ex dono Thomas Tipping Armig. 1717." The two handles have a beaded ornament ; and the cover a toothed rim of ornament and flaa--dc-lys ornament similar to that of the bowl. Inside is inscribed, " Coll. sive Auk de Clare." Under the base is engraved, "Coll. Clare Cant." with the arms of the college. English. 1717.'' Height, 8 in. ; width at handles, 9^ in. ; width of cover and bowl, 6 in. ; width at base, 3^ in. Clare College, Cambridge. 146 COLLEGE AXD CO RI'O RATION PLATE. jS8o. — 103. Tankard, or ila.cjon, of silver. The gift of the Corporation of Mines Royal, Mineral and Battery Works. Date, 1718. Maker, Hood. Mercers' Company, London. 1872. — 8. Cup, two-handled, with gadroon ornament in beaten work. English. 1719-20. The original, of silver, is in the South Ken- sington Museum, No. 693 — 1S6S. Height, 4 J in. ; diam. 4} in. 1872. — 22. Salver, with central gadroon ornament in beaten "work. English. 1719-20. The original, of silver, is in the South Kensington Museum, No. 692 — 1S6S. Diam. 9 in. 1868. — 84. Kettle and stand, with lamp. (See page 134.) The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen. English. Date, 1732. 1876. — 5. Spoon. The bowl has a shield of arms, the stem a phoenix and flowers. (See page 135.) Circa 1730. English. Barber Surgeons' Company, London. 1776. — 4. Spoon. The bowl leaf-pattern, the stem with shell and scrollwork. (See page 135.) Circa 1730. Barber Surgeons' Company, London. 1880. — 86. Cup and cover, called the " Townshend Cup." Two- handled vase-shaped cup and cover. A band on the foot ornamented with raised shell-pattern, the lower half of the bowl having raised shell pattern columns on a grained surface. Above a band on the upper half is on one side an ornamented shield of the arms of the donor, inscribed "Ex dono Caroli Townshend Armigeri hujiis Coll. Socio-Comensalis, 1750," and on the other side the arms of the college, inscribed "Collegium sive aula de Clare." Two bracket-shaped handles at the sides. The cover has a similar shell-pattern ornament on a grained surface, and is engraved with the arms of the college and a stag. English. 1735-6. Hciglit, 8| in. ; hcig'it of vase and cover, 13 in. ; diam. 7 in. ; diam. at foot, 5 in. Clare College, Cambridge. 1880. — 109. Two-handled Cup and cover. 1739. Maker, Lamerie. (See page 136.) Goldsmiths' Company, London. 1880. — 108. Ewer. 1741. (See page 137.) Maker, Lamerie. GoUl- smiths' Company, London. 1868. — loi. Epcrgne or Centre-piece. On a st.and with castors, dishes for sweetmeats, &c., and brackets and sconces for candles. The original, of silver-gilt, was made for Frederick Prince of Wales, the father of George 111. I is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, .uul fi)rms part of the Royal collection of J COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 147 plate at Windsor Castle. English. Date, about 1750. Height, 2 ft. 10 in. ; length, 3 ft. ; width, 2 ft. 4 in. 1875. — 22. Vase with covet. The original, of silver, gadrooned, with four curved handles springing from shells, is in the South Kensington Museum, No. 562. -'74. English. Hall-mark, 1753-4. Height, 8| in ; diam. 3^ in. 1880. — 50. Cup, double-handled, with a shield of arms on one side and two shields on the other, with the inscription, " Coll. Reg., Oxon, Theophilus Metcalfe, M.D., ejusdem socio-commens., Moriens Legavit, A.D. 1757." On the lid is inscribed, " Coll. Reg. Oxon," with the crests of a deer's head and a demi-lion. The original is of silver. English. Eighteenth century. Height, 12 in.; width, with handles, iijin. ; diam. of cover, 62 in. Queen's College, Oxford. 1868. — 90. Tureen and cover. With leaf and scroll handles and feet, the cover surmounted by a knob in the form of a cauliflower ; on the sides in relief are the arms of George III. The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of Her Majesty the Oueen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. English. Date, 176 1. Height, giin. ; length, 18 in. ; width, \i\ in. 1880. — 89. Tea-caddy and cover, silver, one of a set of three. Four- sided box-shaped, widening at the top. Resting on four small feet at the corners, the four sides engraved with ornament and floral wreaths in 7-epoiisse j on one side the arms of the college, on the other those of the donor, ai-e engraved. The cover has similar ornament in repousse, and is surmounted with an acorn knob. At the bottom is inscribed, "Aul. Clar. Cant, dcdit Johannes Hobart Baronetus hujus Collegii nobilis, 17 10." English. Date, 1763. Height, S^in. ; width, 4in. Clare College, Cambridge. 1879.— 13. Coffee-pot. 1764. (See page I39-) Salters' Company, London. 1875. — 23. Vase with cover. The original, of silver, with bead and leaf ornament, and two foliated handles from which garlands hang down, is in the South Kensington Museum, No. 564— 1874. English. Hall-mark, 1 770-1. Height, 9 in. ; diam. 4^ in. 1876.— 10. Urn. 1771. (See page 140.) Barber Surgeons' Company, London. 1872.— 23. Vase and cover. The body reeded and ornamented with a festooned band and satyrs' heads for handles, the cover 1 48 COLLEGE AND CORJ^ORATIOX PLATE. surmounted by a statuette of a boy. English. Hall-mark, 1772. Designed by the architect Adam. The original, of silver-gilt, is in the South Kensington Museum, No. 55 — 1865. Height, 10^ in. ; width, 4I in. 1S68. — 89. Tureen and cover. Embossed and chased. The cover surmounted by the Prince of Wales's plume. The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of Her Majesty the (^ueen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. Date, 1773. Height, 12^ in.; length, 15 in.; width, 8^ in. 1S75. — -7- Chocolate-pot with cover. 1777-S. (See page 141.) South Kensington Museum. 1875. — 25. Vase with cover. The original, of silver, urn-shaped, with two handles, repousse with festoons, acanthus-leaves, and bead ornament, is in the .South Kensington Museum, No. 574 — 1874. English. Hall-mark, 1779-80. Height, 7^ in. ; diam. 3^ in. i83o. — 6. Bread-tray. A shell-shaped tray, slightly fluted, with handle returning over the tray, standing on three dolphin feet rest- ing on balls. Irish. Late eighteenth century. Length, 15 in. ; width, 12 in. ; height of handle, 10 in. Trinity College, Dublin. i368 — 87. Ewer. Antique classical design, supported by groups of marine figures, a bacchanalian procession round the body, the handles formed of figures of naiads. The original, of silver- gilt, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. J 782. Height, 18 in. ; width, 11 in. 1868. — 88. Salver. In the centre is a group representing ^'enus rising from the sea, with figures of Neptune, tritons, &c. round the border. The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. 1782. Diam. i\\ in. j88o — 18. Ewer, silver-gilt. The base and lower half of the bowl arc fluted, on the plain upper half arc engraved the arms of the company, a beaded edge runs round the lip and the upper rim. The handles arc formed of twisted snakes divided at the head. Round the rim at the base is inscribed, "The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, Mr. John Unwin, Master; Mr. Francis Hawes, Mr. Willoughby Stevens, Wardens, 17S4." Da*c, 17S3. Height to top of bowl, 11 in.; diam. at mouth, 4iJ in. Ironmongers' Companv, London. COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 149 18S0. — 17. Salver, silver-gilt. A plain dish, with broad fluted rim, beaded at the edge, having a shield of arms of the company. 1783. Diam. 22| in. ; rim, l\ in. Ironmongers' Company, London. 1 863. —96. Cup. The body carved with a representation of the birth of Venus; on the cover are representations of shells, &c. The original, of ivory with silver-gilt mounting and gold cover, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. The ivory carving Flemish (?), seventeenth century. The mounting English, 1785. Height, 8 in. ; width, 7 in. by 4^ in. 1879. — 10. Badge of the Bargemaster of the Clothvvorkers' Com- pany. Of silver parcel-gilt. An oval shield of arms with motto. 1787. Oval, 9|- in. by 85 in. Clothvvorkers' Company, London. 1875. — 21. Sauce-boat with cover, one of a pair. The original, of silver, with garlands and medallion heads, leaf ornament and lion's head ornament, is in the South Kensington Museum. No. 578 — 1874. English. Hall-mark, 1788-9. Height, 5f in. ; length, 7^ in. 1868. — 83. Jar, with perforated cover, for pot-pourri or dried rose- leaves, richly embossed with flowers, masks, &c. The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. 1789. Height, 19 \ in. ; width, 13 in. 1880. — 9. Cup and cover. 1795. (See page 142.) Made by John Scofield. Merchant Taylors' Company, London. SPECIMENS OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PLATE, THE EXACT DATES OF WHICH THE AUTHOR HAS NOT YET HAD AN OPPORTUNITY OF VERIFYING. 1880. — 3. Salver. The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of Trinity College, Dublin. The rim, ornamented in repousse with shields, fruit, and cherubs' heads, the inner rim engraved, "Ex pecunia legata Doctore Gilbert." The centre is engraved with the arms of the college in scroll-work, with cherubs' heads and figures of Fame and Philosophy. Irish. Eighteenth century. Diam. \(i'\ in. Trinitv College, Dublin. 150 COLLEGE AND CORPORATLON PLATE. 1S80. — 7. Epergne, silver. The original is a circular stand supporting a tray and four smaller trays on brackets. It rests on four feet formed by lions' paws holding balls, the brackets springing from lions' heads. The stand is formed by two bands of openwork ornament, representing baskets of fruits and tlowcrs between lions' heads. The edges of the trays are aho orna- mented with openwork, and on them are engraved arms of college. Irish. Eighteenth century. Height, 7 in. ; diam. of large tray, lo^ in. ; diam. of small trays, 7 in. ; extreme width, 26 in. Trinity College, Dublin. 1880. — 23. Staff-head. The arms and crest of the company on both sides in floriated ornament ; the knight's helmet surmounted by two wild cats collared face to fiice with a spade dependent between them. English. Eighteenth century. Height, 7Hn.; width, 5] in. Ironmongers' Company, London. 1880.— 15. Beadle's Staff-head, as capital of a column supporting a globe, with arms of the City of London and of the Company. Merchant Taylors' Company, London. 1880.— 26. S:aff-head, parcel-gilt, with motto, " Serve and Obey." Haberdashers' Company, London. 1868. — 97. Elephant. On its back are figures of an Indian god and a driver in C ricntal costume. The original, of silver-gilt, is the property of I Icr Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. English Date, latter part of eighteenth century. Height, 14 in.; length, 12 in.; width, 6 in. SPFXIMENS OF NINETEENTH CENTURY PLATE. 1868.— 94. Vase or wine-cooler. Antique classical design, the body ornamented with figures in low relief, the border of grapes and vine leaves, with twi:,ted vine stock handles. The original, of silver-gilt, was designed by Flaxman, and executed by Rundoll and Bridge for the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. It is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of i)late at Windsor Castle. 1S12. Height, 9^ in. ; width, 10 in. 1863. — 95. \'ase or Cup. Antique classical form, with subjects in relief emblematic of the gold and silver ages. The original, of silver, one half gilt, was designed by Flaxman for the Prince COLLEGE AND CORPORATION PLATE. 151 Regent, afterwards George IV. It is the property of Her Majesty the Oueen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. About 18 12. Height, 6| in. ; width, 10 in. by 65 in. 1868.— 93. Salver. In the centre the Triumph of Ariadne in high relief, the border ornamented with trophies of musical instru- ments and masks on a trellis of vine-leaves and grapes. The original, of silver-gilt, was designed by Stothard, and executed by Rundell and Bridge for the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. It is the property of Her Majesty the Queen, and forms part of the Royal collection of plate at Windsor Castle. 1 8 14. Diam. 32 in. 186S. — 185. Shield. "The Outram Shield.'' The original, of silver and steel damascened with gold, was presented to the late Sir James Outram, Bart., G.C.B., by friends in the Bombay Presidency. In the centre is a group of equestrian figures in high rehef, representing the voluntary cession by Sir J. Outram to General Havelock of the troops destined to relieve Lucknow during the Indian mutiny; around this is a band damascened with gold containing medallion portraits in relief of distinguished Indian officers. A wider external band of groups of figures in low relief represents various events in Sir J. Outram's Indian career. The shield, which is now the property of Sir F. B. Outram, Bart., was manufactured by Messrs. Hunt and Roskell from the designs of Mr. H. H. Armstead. English. Nineteenth century. Diam. 3 ft. 3 in. INDEX. PAGE Alfred, jewel of King .... 5 All Souls' College, Oxford, 19, 30, 54, 61, 82, 121 Andrew's, St., University of . . 35 Anne, plate of the time of Queen , 127 Apostles' spoons 69 Ardagh cup, the 7 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford . 72, 83 Banlcer-goldsmiths, the ... 86 Barbarian work in England, small remains of ... . 4 Barber Surgeons' Company, London, 60, 81, 108, 116, 119, 13s, 140, 144 et seq. Basins, ewers and, 18, 62, 7S> 77> 89 Beakers 57. 9i> 119 Bell of St. Patrick 9 Bristol, Corporation of . 78, 95, 116 Britannia standard, silver of, 89, 124 Broderers' Company, London, 91, 94, 114. 115 Carpenters' Company, London . 93 Caudle cups 100 Celtic ornament . . . . 7, 10, 13 Chalices iji 49 Chandeliers . . 107, 121, 132, 133 Christ's College, Cambridge, 34, 55, 56, 57. 59. Si Chocolate pot ...... 141 Church plate, desecration of . . 53 Cisterns 129, 132 Civil War, effect of the ... 85 Clare College, Cambridge, 65, 67, 82, 83, i?o, 145 et seq. Clothworkers' Company, London, 100 loi, 108, 114, 116, 118, 122, 149 Cocoa-nuts, cups formed of, 36, 72, "5 Coffee pot 139 Commonwealth plate, variety of. 86 Communion cups 53 Corpus Christi College, Cam- bridge, 27, 37, 62, 63, 64, 65, 69, 71, 81, 82, 83, 114, 115 Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 39, 50, 62, 69, 81, 82 Cups, early, what made of . . 19 Cups, pet names given to . . . 19 Delamere, Lord 84 Dinner services, introduction of . 129 Dunstan, St., patron of the English goldsmiths ... 4 Elizabethan times, prosperity of . 46 Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 78, 84, 93, 115, 116, 118 Enamels, the various kinds of . 5, 8 Enamelling, early English . . 15 Ethelwolf, ring of king ... 5 Ewer^, basias and, 18, 62, 64, 76, 136 Exeter College, Oxford, 81, 92, 103, 115, 116 Exeter, goldsmiths of . . . . 54 Flaxman, designs of Forks 12"? 86 154 INDEX. PACK PAGE Frauds, thirteenth century . . 15 I. ynn, the " King John " cup at 1-rench and Knglish plate com- King's 24 pared 128 Furniture, articles of silver, 106, 118, 119, 120, 122 Maces, ancient 34 Marks, London silversmiths' . . 124 Martial, St., patron of the Georgian period, the . . . .128 French goldsmiths ... 4 Gilds, rise of the trade ... 13 Mazers 18,30,61 Gloucester candlestick, the . . 11 Mercers' Comiiany, London, 40, Si, Gold plate, rarity of .... 102 91,112,114,121,146 Goldsmiths' Company of London, Merchant Taylors' Company, supervision exercised by, 15, 21, London, 75, 83, 90, iii, 115, 47 120, 121, 142, l\^et seq. Goldsmiths' Company of London, Monaghan, St., shrine of . . . 13 their plate, 116, 136, 137, 146 Monks, their skill as g.lds'.iiiths, 4, 6 Goldsmiths, leading London, 21, 54, Monteiths . . . . 129, 130, 144 126 Gothic ornament 27 -m /- n /-» r 1 »_ -» . r- .1 • J .u New College, Oxford, 27, 37, 39, 41, Gothic period, the 20 _ q° ' " -'" *'^' ^ * Gourds, cups formed as ... 95 ■kt^^.Z' „:„j »i,^ « ^ , y^ ^ T J JMorman leriod, the .... 5 Grocers Company, London . . 119 Norwich, corporation of, 76, 77, 84, 96 TT u J ^. I /- I Norwich, goldsmiths of ... 47 Haberdashers Company, Lon- " ^' don, 97, 98, 99, us, 116, iiS, 121, 133, 144 t' sei/. Ostrich ems, cups formed of, 37, 92, Hanaps 19 iic » j/j 7 » Holbein, designs of .... 48 ■' Horns, wassail 25 Hour-glass salts . . . .39, 56, 58 Paris, the touch of 14 Patens 51 Patrick, .St., cover of bell of . . 9 Ireland, ancient Celtic goldwork Pembroke College, Cambridge, 32, 38 in 6, 13 Perth Church, cup at . . . 66, 82 Ireland, tanl ards made in . .in Plate, scarcity of ancient . . . 23 Ironmongers' Company, London, 33, 58, 81, 1 45 e/ sii/. (Queen's College, Oxford, 25, 116, 147 John's, St., College, Cambridge, 93, 115, 119 Regalia, the, 82, loi, 114, 117, 122 Renaissance, the ];eriod of the . 43 Rococo period, the 12S Knole collection, the, 104, 105, 106, Romanesque period, the ... 8 107, 119, 120, 121, 123 Saddlers' Company, London, 93, i lo, Lamerie, Taul .... 128, 138 115, 118,121, 122, 123 Leopard's head, mark of the . . 15 Salts, .standing, 28, 39, 56, 97, 101, Limoges, cradle of the art in 112 Western Furopc .... 4 Saltcrs' Company, London, 1 28, 139, Louis Qiiinze, jieriod of . 128, 132 147 Louise Seize, period of . . . 138 Saxons, goldwork of the . , .5,6 INDEX. 155 I'AGE PACK Saxons, art amongst the ... 6 Urns, tea ; . . 140 Sconces 120 Scotland, the goldsmiths of . . 23 Skinners' Company, London . 65 Vintners' Hall, London, 65, 82, 144 Spoons, various forms of, 17,69, 112, 135 Stoneware jugs 65 Wardens of the Goldsmiths' Company, first notice of the 14 Tankard, the word 67 Wardens of the Goldsmiths' Tankards .... 67, 95, 118, 120 Company, powers of the , 21 Tea-kettles 134 W^indsor Castle, the royal coUec- Tea-spoons 135 tion at, 83, 104, 1 18, 122, 134, Transition period, the . ... 10 \ifi> et seq^ Trinity College, Dublin, 122, 123, 144, 150 Trinity College, Oxford . .51,82 York, mediceval goldsmiths of . 21 THE ENDo LONDON : R. Clay, Sons, and Tatlor, BREAD STREET BILL, E.C. AN INITIAL F^„o:,r.oS "„,.UmCRE«ETOSO«MTS^ ^^^^^^„ „^, DAY AND TO *1 "" OVERDUE. 1,D 21-100in-8,'84 YD 34472 m 339340 / UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA LIBRARY c\ v\ ^viv^, !!;,< rA N'jS- ' ^«tl^ .N\^\ >w *."^ .Klj^ll