A QUEEN ANNE SILVER MONTEITH

MARK OF JOHN SMITH, LONDON, 1702

Details

A QUEEN ANNE SILVER MONTEITH
MARK OF JOHN SMITH, LONDON, 1702
Lobed circular, on spreading gadrooned foot, the lobes with matting between, the detachable collar with cast putto mask cresting, later fixed with detachable rivets, engraved underneath with an inscription, marked near rim and on collar
11 ¾ in. (29.8 cm.) diam.
60 oz. (1,866 gr.)
The inscription reads 'Ex Dono Abrahamus Keen [sic]'.

The arms are those of the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Keene for Abraham Keene.

Provenance

Abraham Keene (d.1720), Liveryman of the Coachmakers’ Company, almost certainly presented to the Company on his appointment to the Livery in 1703.
The Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers; Christie's, London, 29 November 1972, lot 103 (as 1711).

Literature

G. E. Lee, British Silver Monteith Bowls including American and European Examples, London, 1978, p. 85, no. 166, fig. 30.

Exhibited

London, The Victoria and Albert Museum, An Exhibition of Works of Art belonging to the Livery Companies of the City of London, 1926, no. 627.
London, Goldsmiths' Hall, Historic Plate of the City of London, 1951, no. 189.

Brought to you by

Dido Penny

dpenny@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2794

Lot Essay

Abraham Keene was apprenticed to the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers in 1666. He became free in 1673. The Coachmakers’ and Coach Harness Makers’ Company received their charter in 1677 and Keene presumably joined the newly formed company. He took on apprentices in 1687 and 1692 and was made a Liveryman of the company in 1703. He married twice. A memorial stone to his first wife Mary (d.1696), daughter of John Living of Ruislip, can be found in St. Martin’s Church (D. Lysons, An Historical Account of those Parishes in the County of Middlesex, London, 1800, p. 213). The memorial also records his death in 1720 and that of his son, also Abraham, in 1732.

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