Footed Salver

Date1718-1719

Maker Richard Bayley

MediumSilver (Britannia)

DimensionsH: (rim) approx. 4"; Diam. (top) 12 7/16"; Diam. (base) 4 1/2".

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1960-240

DescriptionFooted salver: broad flat circular top with narrow inclined rim with molded face; top supported on tall spool-shaped central stem with 2 short steps over a convex section above flanged edge. Engraved coat of arms on face in center is that of the family Ingram of Walford, County Warwick, and of Earl's Court, County Worcester.
Label TextThomas Blount in the second edition of his Grossographia (London, 1661) defined a salver as "a new fashioned piece of wrought plate; broad and flat, with a foot underneath, and is used in giving Beer, or other liquid thing, to save or preserve the Carpit and Cloathes from drops." From the 1650s to the early eighteenth century, most salvers are of this enlarged paten form. They were put to a number of uses in the service of food and drink, as stands for matching two-handled covered cups and other ornamental plate, and as elements, usually in pairs, in large toilet services. The lord chamberlain described as "six fruite dishes" the six large gilt salvers of 1663/64 of conventional form with broad chased rims and depressed flat centers, that constituted part of the plate presented to Czar Alexei of Russia by the earl of Carlisle's embassy in 1664. The "3 Salvers" listed in the 1703 inventory of the estate of William Fitzhugh of Stafford County, Virginia, are referred to in his will of 1700 as "one Large Silver Salver Jappan" and twice as "one small salver or Bread Plate." A London salver of this form of 1713/14 with an indistinct maker's mark, engraved with the initials of Thomas Nelson (1677-1745) of Yorktown, Virginia, and his wife, Margaret Reade, who were married in 1710, is on loan by descendants to the National Park Service. Maria Byrd of Westover, Charles City County, Virginia, sold in 1788 to John Brown of Providence two silver salvers and six other pieces of family silver. One of these salvers of this form, engraved with the Byrd family arms, is in the Herreshoff collection. Another, a London example of 1723/24, engraved with the crest of the Jacquelin family of Virginia, was exhibited in 1940 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

Some church patens of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, used to serve the eucharistic bread, are of this standard form of domestic salver with a broad top and a tall central foot. The discrepancy between the date letters and engraved dedications on some of these would indicate that some may have been made originally for domestic use. A salver of 1710/11 by Alice Sheene of London, similar to this example, is among the plate at Abingdon Church, Gloucester County, Virginia. Three earlier London salvers, all with gadrooned rims and feet, are still owned by Virginia churches. One of 1691/92 by Benjamin Pyne of London is engraved with the arms of Edmund Andros, who served as governor of Virginia from 1692 until 1698 and presented this salver in 1694 to Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, then Middle Plantation. The vestry records for April 7, 1694, note: "His Excellency Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, was pleased to give to Bruton Parish a large Silver Server." A smaller one of 1694/95 was given by Sarah Braine in 1697 to Westover Church, Charles City County. The third of 1698/99 by Richard Syng of London is among the plate of St. John's Church, Hampton.

This salver, in excellent condition, is engraved with fine armorials within a forceful baroque cartouche. The engraver's scribed circular guide is clearly discernible.

InscribedArms of Hastings Ingram of Walford and Earl's Court, Warwickshire,
and Worcestershire, and of Anne Mollins of West Hall, Dorset, engraved on face of top in center.
MarkingsMaker's mark "BA" in b;ock letters within a quatrefoil, lion's head erased, Britannia, and date letter on face of top. Lion's head erased on underside of stem near base.
ProvenanceVendor: Garrard & Co. Ltd., London