Britannia Standard Silver Quart Tankard - Antique William III (1697)

 Description

This exceptional antique William III Britannia silver tankard has a plain tapering cylindrical form onto a spreading collet style foot.

The surface of this 17th century quart tankard is embellished with impressive embossed fluted decoration to the lower portion, accented with bands of chased stylised single leaf designs.

The upper portion of the body is encircled with a rope twist decorated girdle flanked with chased scallop designs, in addition to a tooled, applied moulded border to the upper rim.

The ornamentation to the body incorporates an oval cartouche, bordered with an embossed and chased scrolling border accented with a scale motif design, and displaying the later bright cut engraved crest of a wolf's head erased and collared.

This antique quart* tankard retains the original hallmarked domed hinged cover surmounted with an impressive cast silver leaf decorated, volute scrolling thumbpiece.

The cover is ornamented with further fluted decoration encircling the sides in addition to a central motif, all in a swirl design.

The decoration to the cover incorporates a central floral design, in addition to scallop and leaf decorated borders, reflecting those to the body.

The cover is further ornamented with a band of tooled decoration to the rim accented with an applied shaped thumbpiece to the anterior edge.

This antique Britannia standard** silver tankard is fitted with an S scroll handle ornamented with a plain shield shaped terminal.

The spreading collet foot is encircled with a band of applied moulded decoration to the rim.

Tankards of this period are typically plain; a 17th century tankard with such decorative ornamentation is rare to the market.

* Imperial quart = 2 pints/1.14 litres

** Britannia Silver - The Britannia silver standard of 958 (95.84% of fine silver), denoted by the icon of the seated Britannia holding an oval shield, was introduced by William III in 1697. This was to indicate the slightly higher standard of silver from sterling silver standard of 925 (92.5% of fine silver).

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