The arms are those of Palmer impaling another.

This porringer forms part of a select group of covered cups whose decoration combines two distinct Dutch influences. Produced throughout the 1660s and 1670s, these cups are characterized by their bold embossed floral decoration which often incorporates exotic or imaginary animals, such as the lion and dragon found on the present lot. The cast finial, formed as a series of grotesque masks that is part human, part animal, however, draws its inspiration from Dutch auricular ornament. Another cup of this type from 1663, featuring a monkey-riding camel and running deer, sold at Sotheby's, New York on April 22, 1998, lot 323.