MARK OF JOHN JAMES KEITH, LONDON, 1850

J. J. Keith was known to have produced silver to the designs of the architect William Butterfield, (1814-1900). A communion set designed by Butterfield for Balliol college is illustrated in Helen M. Clifford, A Treasured Inheritance, 600 Years of Oxford College Silver, page 49, figure 48. Similarities between the present flagon and that set can be seen in the engraved decoration, particularly the use of the engraved stylised quatrefoils, as well as the pierced foot and the coronet motif which appears on each hinged cover.