LONDON, 1674, MAKER'S MARK TH CROWNED ABOVE A PELLET POSSIBLY FOR THOMAS HARRIS

MAKER'S MARK TH CROWNED
Little is known about this maker, however, it has been suggested that the mark could be for Thomas Harris, who was made free of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1670. A porringer with similar matting and heavy gauge, circa 1660 and another plain example of 1683, are in the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clarke Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Beth Carver Wees in her scholarly catalogue of the collection, English, Irish and Scottish Silver, in the Sterling and Francine Clarke Art Institute, New York, 1997, pp. 70-71, cat. nos. 21 and 22 cites the attribution to Thomas Harris, following research conducted by Gerald Taylor, held by the Goldsmiths' Company, London.

Wees notes that matted ornament on English silver is seen as early as the 1630s and is also present after the Restoration of 1666. Pieces of similarly heavy gauge, ornamented with plain matted bands, include the celebrated Monck Tankard, by Francis Leake, of 1675 sold from the collection of Sir John Vyvyan Bt., Sotheby's, London, 13 June 1983, lot 25 and a porringer and cover, from the Scarsdale Heirlooms, Kedleston Hall, with the maker's mark TH in monogram, 1670, Christie's, London, 28 November 1979, lot 121. Another related piece of exceptional quality is Bishop Tenison's silver-gilt tankard, of 1673, also by Leake, sold Christie's London, 13 May 1992, lot 199.