Description

A handsome antique silver monteith bowl with the original castellated collar mounted with little lion heads. Excellent size and proportions. The bowl design is typical for a monteith of the period 1700-1720 with its plain form on a built-up foot and the large hand engraved coat of arms. To the reverse is finely executed crest.

Weight 1561 grams, 50.1 troy ounces.
Height 21.4cm (with Monteith collar), 21.4cm (without collar). Diameter 27cm (collar), 25cm (bowl).
London 1721.
Maker John Bache.
Britannia standard silver – 95.8% pure.
18^th century.

This early English silver punch bowl is also perfect for use as a wine cooler or for flower display and will give as much pleasure today as it did over 300 years ago.

Marks. The body is stamped below the rim with a full set of English silver hallmarks, the collar with a fully matching set of marks. All clear and very well preserved.

Inscription. Engraved to the foot of the bowl is “Once the property of Edward Symons of the Mynde and given to Edward Simon Myles Cavendish by his Godmother Daisy Symons 1928. Ex D:Thomas Symons to A.H”. The Mynde is a large country house which dates from the 15th century in the village of Much Dewchurch in Herefordshire. In 1740 the estate was purchased by Richard Symons of London and descended through the direct male line of the Symons family to Thomas Edward Raymond Symons on whose death in 1928 it was sold to a fellow army officer, Henry Ambrose Clive.

*Britannia Standard. In 1696, so extensive had become the melting and clipping of coinage that the silversmiths were forbidden to use the sterling standard for their wares. Instead the new higher standard, 95.8 per cent pure had to be used and new hallmarks were ordered, “the figure of a woman commonly called Britannia” and the lion’s head erased (torn off at the neck) replacing the lion passant and the leopard’s head crowned. This continued until the old standard of 92.5 per cent was restored in 1720.

Literature: The Monteith bowl is mentioned in Anthony Wood’s diary in 1683 however the first recorded examples do not appear until the following year (ref. Georgina E. Lee Monteith Bowls). Food at this time was heavily spiced and a cooling drink was needed such as wine or the newly fashionable punch. Hence the requirement for a large bowl which could be filled with either a drink or ice, and to which a shaped removable rim could be used to hold stem glasses, punch ladle and lemon squeezer. A bowl of this type is referred to as a Monteith.