Monteiths, punch bowls and punch ladles

The monteith, which looks like a punch bowl with an ornate rim arid lifting handles, fir whist appeared some 20 years after the Restoration but became more general during the later years of the seventeenth century and earlier years of the eighteenth. Monteiths are comparatively rare pieces, and therefore fetch high prices. Their scalloped and notched rims were generally removable. The monteith was filld with cold water, then glasses were hung by their foot upon the notchese, and thus allowed to cool in the water. When the monteith was not being used in l filled it punch.

The monteith-shaped bowl for punch was revived towards the end of the nineteenth century. In the eighteenth century it was superseded by the punch bowl, an important vessel throughout this century. Early examples are usually of a heavier silver and comparatively undecorated, but as the century progressed they might be embossed with fluting,sometimes incorporating leaf and floral patterns, or embossed and chased in the rococo style. Later they were decorated with neo-classical motifs.

Accompanying the punch bowl would be a long-handled ladle, early examples being of a heavy-gauge silver, like the bowl, with their handles perhaps of turned wood, ivory or ebony. Numerous designs came into being after about 1740, including circular and oval bowls with pouring lips; bowls shaped like the popular nautilus-shell; goose-egg shapes; and those with crown pieces hammered out to form the bowl. Others simply had a coin inserted into the base, but such coins were not always contemporary.

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Tankards

Although use was made of cut-card work on some tankards and certain presentation examples made during the early years of the eighteenth century, the tankard by its very nature is not generally regarded as a Huguenot vessel, since the Huguenots originated from a wine-drinking country. It was the London silversmiths, therefore, who tended to specialise in the tankard, and generally the examples which bear the marks of Huguenot makers stray a little from the true outline of the English vessel. Other ornament on late seventeenth and early eighteenth century tankards which, for the most part, were comparatively undecorated, included gadrooning, engraved coats-of-arms and occasionally more elaborate surface engraving, perhaps with chinoiseries. Shapes were simple.

The tankard in general use during Queen Anne’s reign had a low-domed cover or lid and might be given a double-scroll handle and scrolling thumbpiece. A rotund or tulip-shaped form appeared at about this time, with a rounded base upon a concave moulded foot-ring, while double-domed lids became popular around the time of the accession of George I. The tankard was hammered up from the flat until roughly the third to fourth decade of the eighteenth century, from which time it became general practice to hammer up the lower part of the vessel and to make the upper section separately, joining the two parts by solder. The joint would be covered by ornamental moulding. Cromwellian tankards were mostly undecorated, except perhaps for their owner’s coat-of-arms. Single, stepped lids were the vogue. Tankards became bulbous after the middle of the eighteenth century and subsequent examples were also given barrel-type bodies. More decorative post-Restoration styles might incorporate strapwork and embossed ornament. In the most part, succeeding styles and sizes were similar to preceding forms, ranging from the tall, flagon-shaped examples made in the time of Charles I to the rotund form made from about 1750.

The term ‘peg’ tankard owes its name to the eight pins, or pegs, spaced evenly in a vertical line inside the vessel. A cylindrical type of tankard which often had ‘pegs’ sometimes stood upon three pomegranate-shaped feet and incorporated either engraved tulip or lily motifs or embossed tulip and acanthus decoration. These originated from Scandinavia and were copied by English craftsmen, usually near Hull, Newcastle and York, since these towns were closest to the north coast and came under the influence of both Scandinavian and Dutch craftsmen. The pegs were an early form of measure, and, according to Doctor Pegge, the seventeenth century antiquary, ‘the first person who drank was to empty the tankard to the first peg or pin, the second was to empty to the next pin, etc’. Since these tankards usually held two quarts, this allowed each person to drink the full measure of one gill or half a pint.

Beer jugs

Beer was served in varying sizes of jugs, generally of a sturdy character, and often with pear-shaped bodies and scroll handles. They usually had a lid or cover, but were also made with open tops. The pouring spout was sometimes worked from the rim, while other examples featured spouts which had been made separately and soldered to the main body. Beer jugs should not be confused with covered hot-water jugs, which were usually more elegant and followed cyclic fashions in styles and decoration in order to match other pieces of domestic table silver.

Beakers and mugs

Although beakers are a primitive and ancient form of drinking vessel, in silver or silver-gilt they were scarce and, while known of in mediaeval times, they did not become general until far later. Those in use during the seventeenth century were usually first shaped as a cylinder with a splayed-out top, the vertical seam being soldered and a circular base inserted - a technique which had been employed for many years. At another stage they were hammered up from the flat. They were often fairly small, perhaps around four to six inches in height, and sometimes heavily embossed with floral patterns. Some examples are simply scratch-engraved. Certain beakers were also influenced by Scandinavian craftsmen and copies of these can sometimes be dated from about 1740 to 1775. Others, engraved and bright-cut, tapering gradually to the base, were made during the later years of the century as were reeded examples. The latter type was also produced in the nineteenth century.

Early mugs, like beakers, were either hammered up from the flat or formed into cylinders, soldered, then given a base and a handle. They were commonly about three to six inches in height, and closely resembled contemporary tankards, but did not have lids. By the end of the seventeenth century and beginning of the eighteenth they might be chased, fluted, reeded or engraved with chinoiseries, with straight or rounded sides. Others were devoid of ornament. Just after George I came to the throne the tulip-shaped mug became fashionable, but towards the end of the eighteenth century the straight-sided mug reappeared. Those produced during the following century borrowed their shapes and ornament from all periods.

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