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Lot Essay
Only a few octagonal flagons of this form are known. This example was previously owned by a French Noble family for generations who had recorded it as having been found in the castle of Homburg, Aargau which was destroyed by earthquake in 1356. See Cotterell, Pewter down the Ages, fig.14. for a companion to this lot.
There is some debate as to the nationality of such flagons as they have been found in various European countries. Two are known in Holland, one in the Rijkmuseum the other in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam which had previously been in the A.G. Verster collection. Another is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, see Pewter in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Anthony North, 1999, Fig.3, which shares the same seated lion finial to the present example and also has an inscription to handle of a French owner.
A further is the so called 'Sandy Law' flagon, purchased Sotheby's October 1985 lot 33 and resold by Phillips of Chester 25th September 1997 lot 346. The history of this flagon was that it was found in the River Medway near Tonbridge Castle. It was exhibited at the Age of Chivalry, exhibition, R.A. 1987 No.211. and illustrated Museum of London 1989, Pewter, A celebration of the craft, No.12. Tony North refers to another flagon of this type as having been found in Bristol. The footnote in the Phillips Chester catalogue also records one in the Landesmuseum, Zurich and a French pewter expert understands there are further known to him in French collections.
See also the Journal of the Pewter Society, Spring 1986, page 98.
There is some debate as to the nationality of such flagons as they have been found in various European countries. Two are known in Holland, one in the Rijkmuseum the other in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam which had previously been in the A.G. Verster collection. Another is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, see Pewter in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Anthony North, 1999, Fig.3, which shares the same seated lion finial to the present example and also has an inscription to handle of a French owner.
A further is the so called 'Sandy Law' flagon, purchased Sotheby's October 1985 lot 33 and resold by Phillips of Chester 25th September 1997 lot 346. The history of this flagon was that it was found in the River Medway near Tonbridge Castle. It was exhibited at the Age of Chivalry, exhibition, R.A. 1987 No.211. and illustrated Museum of London 1989, Pewter, A celebration of the craft, No.12. Tony North refers to another flagon of this type as having been found in Bristol. The footnote in the Phillips Chester catalogue also records one in the Landesmuseum, Zurich and a French pewter expert understands there are further known to him in French collections.
See also the Journal of the Pewter Society, Spring 1986, page 98.