Images(3)

Tankard

Date1767-1768

Maker Sebastian and James Crespell

OriginEngland, London

MediumSilver (Sterling)

DimensionsOH: 4 31/32"; H(rim): 4 7/8"; D(cover): 3 11/32"; D(rim): 3 7/32"; D(base): 3 5/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1954-538

DescriptionFlat circular cover with pointed projection opposite handle and elliptical appliqué on face of cover in front of pivot attachment to handle; cylindrical body with straight tapered sides with drawn multiple molding applied at rim and horizontally-reeded bands applied below upper and lower handle attachments; solid handle of elliptical outline with flat top and of rectangular section soldered at rim and to lower section of body. Coat of arms with crest engraved on face of cover. They are not registered with the College of Arms nor recorded in printed references. They are probably of arbitrary assumption. (Information provided by Dr. Conrad Swan, The Rouge Dragon, Pursuivant of Arms, College of Arms, London, England, in 1965.)
Label TextThis type of tankard contrasts sharply with the more popular eighteenth-century forms with straightsided or baluster-shaped bodies (such as CWF accessions 1954-539 and 1954-344). Its flat cover with pointed lip and lack of base moldings recalls English tankards of the second quarter of the seventeenth century. Its solid handle of rectangular section without lower scroll and terminal differs from the conventional hollow tankard handle of D-shaped section and S-scroll outline. This tankard probably had originally an openwork thumbpiece. A London tankard of 1649/50 at Winchester College shows the earlier use of the hooped body and handle of related design.
InscribedArms and crest of probably arbitrary assumption engraved on face of cover.
MarkingsMaker's mark "S.C" over "I.C" in block letters with a mullet between within a vertical rectangle with canted corners, leopard's head crowned, lion passant, and date letter on underside of base. Maker's mark and lion passant on underside of cover.
ProvenanceVendor: Garrard & Co. Ltd., London (purchased from Mrs. Cornwall, Virginia Water, Kent, 1953)