Although the earliest reference to an English wine taster can be found in a will of 1426, 'A tastour of selver with my owne merke ymade in the bottom', no 15th century examples are known to exist. However, the the present wine taster would appear to be the second earliest surviving English example. Their standard form, as in the present lot, is of a shallow circular bowl with raised centre against which the colour of the wine may be assessed. The earliest surviving wine taster, now in the Bristol Museum, made in 1603, is illustrated in R. Butler and G. Walkling,The Book of Wine Antiques, Woodbridge, 1986, p.99, pl.87

The decoration of the present example is similar to the that on the bowl of a shallow wine cup of 1603 in the British Museum. Embossed pyramidal projections within bands of beaded ornament were a popular form of decoration during the early years of the 17th century. AA standing cup and cover of 1607, now in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersberg, exhibited London, Sotheby's, English Silver Treasures from the Kremlin, 1991, no. 101, shows an almost identical combination of punched ornament and fleur-de-lys.