Six nested tumblers and cover

Dateca. 1680

MediumSilver; Gold (Silver-gilt)

DimensionsH:2 1/2"; Diam.(rim): 3 3/16"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1938-22,1

DescriptionTumbler; nearly straight sides rounded at bottom with flat base; band of incised moldings below rim; body decorated with a wide band of three rectangular panels of grandulation between encircling incised lines, separated and bordered by polished metal; uninscribed as to owner
Label TextModest tumblers with rounded bottoms appear during the reign of Charles I, but few surviving examples date from before the Restoration. They remained popular until the latter part of the eighteenth century. Like small beakers, they are sometimes associated with traveling equipage, either nested, as in this instance, or forming part of a canteen with eating utensils. Oman cites a 1633 reference to "a nest of tumbling bowles containing three and four joynted spoons." The only other recorded set of English nested tumblers, one of 1688/89 in the Untermyer collection, retains its original shagreen case. The cover on the Williamsburg example can be inverted to form a stand.

These tumblers are flat-chased with broad bands of matting. Achieved by the massing of small circular punch marks, matting, like all forms of chasing involves the manipulation of the surface without the removal of any metal. It was used as a ground for decoration from the reign of Elizabeth I onward. Its broad use as primary decoration is of German derivation, and it is limited to the period from the reign of Charles I to that of William III. The earliest known English use of matting in this manner is the Barber cup of 1632/33 at Winchester College.

Silver tumblers appear frequently in Virginia wills and inventories of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Early mentions are the "1 Ditto (silver) Tumbler markt. with the Armes" in the 1674 inventory of the estate of Ambrose Fielding of Northumberland County and the "one silver tumbler marked II (presumably engraved for John Jennings) in the 1678 inventory of the estate of the planter John Jennings of Isle Wight County. An unusual reference to a gilt example, "1 silver tumbler Gilt," appears in the 1700 inventory of Turtulian Sehut of Henrico County.
InscribedNone
MarkingsMaker's mark "R.H" in block letters within a shaped rectangle twice on underside of base (largest tumbler)
ProvenanceEarl of Home (sold at Christi's, London 1919; purchased by Harman)
H. H. Mulliner (sold at Christi's, London, 1924; purchased by Permain)
William Randolph Hearst
Vendor: Parish-Watson & Co., New York