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Lot Essay
This ecuelle is based on a French form, a number of which are included in this sale. It was customary to present an ecuelle to a mother following the birth of her child. The form was introduced to England by Huguenot goldsmiths, who fled their homeland following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had previous protected them from religious and financial persecution.
Very few London made examples survive. Clayton is his Dictionary of English and American Silver, Oxford, 1971, p. 115, suggests fewer than twenty. The earliest English example is possible that of circa 1694 by Huguenot Daniel Garnier, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (obj. no. 68.141.274a). The applied strapwork and fluted border on the cover of the present lot are typical of Platel's work. Similar handles can be found on an uncovered ecuelle, by fellow Huguenot David Willaume, London, 1711, sold from the collection of Mrs. Fay Plohn, Sotheby's, London, 15 October 1970, Lot 17.
Very few London made examples survive. Clayton is his Dictionary of English and American Silver, Oxford, 1971, p. 115, suggests fewer than twenty. The earliest English example is possible that of circa 1694 by Huguenot Daniel Garnier, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (obj. no. 68.141.274a). The applied strapwork and fluted border on the cover of the present lot are typical of Platel's work. Similar handles can be found on an uncovered ecuelle, by fellow Huguenot David Willaume, London, 1711, sold from the collection of Mrs. Fay Plohn, Sotheby's, London, 15 October 1970, Lot 17.