MARK OF GEORGE GARTHORNE, LONDON, 1685

Monteith bowls were introduced to England in the 1680s. The most extravagant were chased with panels of exotic Chinoiserie figures and animals. The form of the present bowl, with a fixed rim and lacking handles, is identical to the earliest known monteith, also by George Garthorne, of 1684. The removable rim, so common in later monteiths, was not introduced until about 1686. Other early Chinoiserie-decorated monteith bowls of the same form include one by maker TA, 1684, in the collection of King's College, Cambridge and another by maker DB, 1685, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Another of 1685, also by George Garthorne but smaller than the present example, is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (see Georgina E. Lee, British Silver Monteith Bowls, 1978).