.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
THOMAS FRANCIS
The maker to whom Dr Mitchell attributes this work, op. cit., p. 208 and pp. 522-4, became free of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1604. Thomas Francis was the son of a Shropshire yeoman and was initially apprenticed to the plateworker Thomas Flynt. Mitchell’s examination of the Company archives show that Francis had established a modest retail business by 1622 and was fashioning plate such as fruit dishes and bowls. He also made a number of steeple cups, discussed later in this catalogue. Following a dispute concerning the assay master John Reynolds, Francis was one of the five silversmiths to succeed him. He made a gold cup for the goldsmith banker Thomas Vyner (1588-1665) in 1630 which was later presented by the City of London to Prince Charles, later King Charles II. Trusted by his peers, he was elected, when only a freeman, to sit on the Grand Committee of the House of Commons. The size of his workshop can be appreciated by the high number of apprentices he took; seventeen between 1605 and 1642. He died sometime between June 1648 and April 1649.
THE FRUIT DISH AND PORTUGUESE INFLUENCE
This form of dish or tazza, with its distinctive cinquefoil shape and the central Tudor rose boss, is almost identical to another example hallmarked five years later and struck with the maker’s mark attributed to William Sankey, formerly in the collection of Lord Rothermere, and now in the Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Timothy Schroder’s The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles, 1988, cat. no. 18, pp. 90–92. The collection also includes a more elaborate circular example with both a pierced and chased border and central boss, the border of the centre chased with portrait busts. The pierced and chased decoration on these dishes demonstrates the Portuguese influence on English plate in the early years of the 17th century. Charles Oman and José Rosa in their article ‘Portuguese Influence on English Silver’, Apollo, June 1951, pp.162–64, suggest this exchange of form and ornament occurred following the peace treaty between King James I and Spain signed in 1604. They believed this reignited trade between Lisbon and England, leading to the sale of Portuguese plate to the English Royal Court and the merchant of London, This is confirmed by the 19 pieces of Portuguese silver listed in a sale of royal plate made by King Charles I in 1626. The dish, with its flaring foot is thought to have been used for the serving of dessert and fruit. A more elaborate circular example, now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, pre-dates this dish by three years, being hallmarked for 1619.
The maker to whom Dr Mitchell attributes this work, op. cit., p. 208 and pp. 522-4, became free of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1604. Thomas Francis was the son of a Shropshire yeoman and was initially apprenticed to the plateworker Thomas Flynt. Mitchell’s examination of the Company archives show that Francis had established a modest retail business by 1622 and was fashioning plate such as fruit dishes and bowls. He also made a number of steeple cups, discussed later in this catalogue. Following a dispute concerning the assay master John Reynolds, Francis was one of the five silversmiths to succeed him. He made a gold cup for the goldsmith banker Thomas Vyner (1588-1665) in 1630 which was later presented by the City of London to Prince Charles, later King Charles II. Trusted by his peers, he was elected, when only a freeman, to sit on the Grand Committee of the House of Commons. The size of his workshop can be appreciated by the high number of apprentices he took; seventeen between 1605 and 1642. He died sometime between June 1648 and April 1649.
THE FRUIT DISH AND PORTUGUESE INFLUENCE
This form of dish or tazza, with its distinctive cinquefoil shape and the central Tudor rose boss, is almost identical to another example hallmarked five years later and struck with the maker’s mark attributed to William Sankey, formerly in the collection of Lord Rothermere, and now in the Gilbert Collection, on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in Timothy Schroder’s The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los Angeles, 1988, cat. no. 18, pp. 90–92. The collection also includes a more elaborate circular example with both a pierced and chased border and central boss, the border of the centre chased with portrait busts. The pierced and chased decoration on these dishes demonstrates the Portuguese influence on English plate in the early years of the 17th century. Charles Oman and José Rosa in their article ‘Portuguese Influence on English Silver’, Apollo, June 1951, pp.162–64, suggest this exchange of form and ornament occurred following the peace treaty between King James I and Spain signed in 1604. They believed this reignited trade between Lisbon and England, leading to the sale of Portuguese plate to the English Royal Court and the merchant of London, This is confirmed by the 19 pieces of Portuguese silver listed in a sale of royal plate made by King Charles I in 1626. The dish, with its flaring foot is thought to have been used for the serving of dessert and fruit. A more elaborate circular example, now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, pre-dates this dish by three years, being hallmarked for 1619.