Lot Essay
Monteiths were used for chilling wine glasses, which were suspended into cold water from the rim. The monteith, named after an eccentric Scot, Lord Monteith, who wore a cloak with notched hem, is first mentioned in English records of 1683, with silver examples being made the following year. It is this early form of monteith, with even rim and plain U-shaped notches which was copied in Chinese porcelain from circa 1715, when, rather than copying metalwork prototypes which by that time had changed in style, they copied European ceramic versions, probably Dutch Delft examples of circa 1710. See C. Le Corbeiller, op.cit., 1974, pp.36-37 for a discussion on monteiths, where the author illustrates the Helena Woolworth McCann blue and white monteith in the Metropolitan Museum, New York as no.15. An almost identical monteith to that in the Metropolitan Museum can be found in the Hodroff Collection, illustrated by David S. Howard, op.cit., 1994, no.218, p.190. Famille verte versions of monteiths are also recorded. These often have scalloped rims with more squared notches, suggesting a slightly later silver prototype than the blue and white versions mentioned above. For an example of this type, see D. S. Howard and J. Ayers, op.cit., 1978, vol.I, no.92, p.117.