PLATE 187 complete is a spoon which was given by Henry VI. to Sir Ralph Piulsey ; this has the year mark for 1445. Other marks, subse quently introduced, were the lion passant, first used in 1545 ; the lion s head erased, and a full-length figure of Britannia, used only between 1697 and 1720 ; and lastly the portrait of the reigning sovereign, which has been in use since 1784. In addition to these general hall marks, the plate made in various towns had from the year 1423 certain special provincial marks. The best work on hall-marked plate and the marks themselves, with the history of the Silversmiths Company, is Cripps, Old English Plate, 1881. See also Cripps, Old French Plate, 1880. The South Kensington Museum has a very fine illustrative collection of plate, from early mediaeval times downwards. It also possesses a very valuable and large assortment of electrotype copies, including the Hildesheim and a part of the Petrossa treasures, as well as a number of the best specimens of college and corporation plate. The museum handbooks on this subject by J. H. Pollen and W. Cripps are extremely useful to the student. The same department has also published a most valuable List of Works on Gold- and Silver-smiths Works in the National Art Library, 1882. Modern Plate in the East. Though little plate of real artistic merit is now made in Europe, in the East, among the Moslem and Hindu races, there still survive some real taste in design and skill in execution. Delhi, Benares, Lucknow, Cutch, and other places in India and Kashmir still produce a quantity of beautiful silver and gold work, chiefly ewers, basins, rose-water sprinklers, salvers, coffee pots, and the like. These are of graceful form, covered with rich repousse work, or more often with very delicate chased patterns. Their style in the main is Moslem, but some combine an Arab form with native Indian surface decoration. This class of work is not a revival, but has been practised and handed down by unbroken tradition, and with little or no change in style from the 16th century or even earlier. 1 The silversmiths of Persia, Damascus, and other Eastern places are still skilful, and retain some good tradition in their designs. They are, however, more occupied in the production of personal ornaments than in making larger works of silver or gold. Authorities. THE PLATE OF CLASSICAL TIMES. Lee, " Silver Plate found in Ithaca," Archxologia, vol. xxxiii., p. 36 sq.; Arneth, Die antiken Gold- imd Silber-Monumente . . . in Wien, 1850; Overbeck, Gesc/iMite der griechischen (1878),and Ilios (1880): MacPherson, Antiquities of Kertch, 1857 ; Stephani, Compte- Rendu de la Commission Archeologique, St Petersburg, 1860 sq. ; Barre . Her- eulaneum et Pompci. vol. vii.. pi. 94 ; Quaranta, Qiiatton/ici Van d Argento . . Pompei, Naples, 1837; Agincourt, Storia del Arte, 1826; Viardot, "Vase Grec en Argent, Ac. . . trouve sduns la Crime e, 1 Gaz. des B. Arts, 1st series, vol. xxiv., p. 234; Darcel, Tresor de Hildesheim, 1870; Holzer, Der Hildesheimer Silber- fund, 1870 ; nlso the Catalogues, of the Museums of Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Bulak (Cairo); Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 2d series, vol. ii. p. 408, vol. xii. p. 450, vol. xix. ]). 105, and vol. xxv. p. 19; Davemberg, Dictionnaire des Antiquite s, art. "Coelatura" (in progress); Museo Etntsco Vat., i. pi. 63-66 (silver bowls from Caere); Gazette Archeologique, 1877, pi. 5: Longperier, Musee Napoleon III , pi. 10-11, 1804 sq.; Kohler, JUittheilungen d. deutsch. Archfiol. hist. Athens, 1882, p. 241 ; Koumanoudes, Afljjraioi/, 1880, p. 162, and 1881, p. 309 (the last two on the gold treasure of Mycenae). I A Worsaae. Afbildninger fra det Kongelige Museum (1854), Primeval Antiquities of Denmark (1849), Industrial Arts of Denmark." S.K.M. Handbook (1882); Hildebrand. " Industrial Arts of Scandinavia," S.K.M., 1882 : Stralsund, Der Goldschmuck von Hiddensoe. 1881; Montelius. Antiquite s Snedotsrs, 1873-75; Reeves, Shrine of St Patrick s Bell, 1850; Wilde, Catalogue of Antiquities of did, Irish R. Academy Museum, 1802. MEDIJEVAL PLATE. Abel, L orfevreriemosellane au 10 Siecle. 1873-74 ; Bock, Der ReHquien-Schalz . . . zu Aachen (I860), Das he.ilige Koln (1858); Der Kron- leuchter gaiters liarbarossa zu Aachen (1864), Die Kleinodien des h,il. romischen Retches (1BR4); Cahier and Martin, Melanges d Archeologie.lS-n -5$; Christyn, Delicts des Pays- lias, vol. iii., 1769; Clement de Ris, "Le tre sor imperial de Vicnne," Gaz. des 11. Arts, 2d series, vol. ii. p. 209; Coussemaker, Orferrerie du XI lime Siecie, Paris, 1861 : Darc-el. articles in Gaz. des B. Arts ( L Orfe vrerie du Moyen- denkmale (1856-60), Der Altaraufaatz zu Klosterneuburg (I860); Jouy and Jacque- mart, Let gemmes ft jouaux de la couronne, 1865-67 ; Jouy, " Le "lieliquaire d Orvieto," Gaz. des Jl. Arts, vol. xv. p. 582, 1877; King, Metal work of the Middle Ages 18 2; Kratz, Der Dom zu Hildesheim, 1840; Linas, Orferrerie Meroi-imiienne,
- De Lasteyrie, Tresor de Guarrazar, Paris, I860 ; Tarbe, Tresors des Egtiset
de Reims, 1843; Aubert, Tresor de I Abbai/ed Agaunc, Paris, 1872; Way, "Gold Crowns from Toledo, and St Fillan s Crozier," in Ar, h. Jour., vol. xvi.. 1859 ; and Ancient Ornaments," ibid., vol. iii.; Aus m Weertli. Kunstdenkmaler des christ- - See Birdwood. Industrial Arts of India, 1880, p. 144. lichen Mittt-lalters in den Rheinlanden, Leipsic. 1857-60; " Chalice from Donegal Abbey," Kilkenny Arch. Soc., n.s., vol. v.; Dunraven, The Ardagh Chalice, 1874; Morgan, " Leommster and Nettleiombe Chalices, " Archxotogia, vol. xxxv. p. 488, and vol. xlii.; Specimens of Ancient Church Plate, Oxford, 1845; Heitfelder, Basilica SS. UJalnci et Afros, Augsburg, 1627 ; Schaepkens, Tresor de I Art Ancien en Belgique, 1846 ; Shaw, Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages (1843), and Decorative Arts of the Middle Ages (1851) ; Milner, " Mitre and Ciozier of Limerick," Archxologia, vol. xvii. p. 30, and " Glastonbury Cup," vol. ii.; see also "The Pastoral Staff of Lismore," ibid., vol. xxxii. p. 360. RENAISSANCE PLATE. Fail-holt, Lord Londesborough s Collection of Plate, 18BO; Frampton, Gold Plate at Windsor Castle, n.d.; Catalogue of Plate, <tc., exhibited in 1861 at Ironmongers Hall, London, 1863-9; Richardson," Old English Mansions and their Plate (1841-48), Drawings and Sketches of Elizabethan Plate. Londi n, n.d.; Shaw, Ancient Plate from Oxford, 1837; Smith, "Specimens ot College Plate," Cam. Ant. Soc., 1845; " L Orfevrerie Anglaise," Gaz. des B. Arts, vol. ix. p. 5, and vol. xvi. p. 297; Keller. "Three Silver Cups at Zurich, "Arch. Jour., vol. xvi., p. 158; Autotypes of Italian Designs for Plate, London, 1871; Schotel, La Coupe de van Xispen, 1850; Strada, Entic iirfe fur Prachtgefdsse in Silber und Gold, Vienna, 1869; Zeitschrift des Kunst-Geicerbe-Verems zu Mum-hen, Ih71 ; Cerceau, (Euvre de Jacques Androuel, Paris, and Litre d Ornenients d Orfevrerir, Paris, n.d.; Van Loon, Histoire Me tallique des Pays-lias, Hague, 1732-37; Hii-th, t ormenschatz der Renaissance, Leipsic, 1877 sq.; Lessing, Die SiWer-Arbcitrn von Anton Eisenhoit, Berlin, 1880; Luthmer, Goldschmuck der R naissance, Berlin, 1880; Masson, Neue Vorrisse von fiachen die auf allerlei Goldsmidts Arbeit, <tc., Aug>burg, 1710; Sibmacher, Entwurfe fur Goldschmiede, Nuremberg, 1879; Arneth, Die Cameen und Arbeiten des Ben. Cellini, Vienna. 1858 ; Baldus, Recueil d Ornements, Paris, 1866 ; Quarterly Review, vol. cxli. p. 353. WOKKS ON PLATE OF VARIOUS PERIOHS. Texier, Dictionnaire d Orferrerie, 1857; De Lasteyrie, Histoire de T Orferrerie; Viollet-le-Duc, Dictiotmaire du Mobilier, 1858-75; Jacquemart. Histoire da Mobilier, 1876: Labarte. .Histoire des Arts au Moyen-Age, 1864-66; Lacroix. Arts in the Middle Ages, 1870; Greco and Emanuel, Arts of the Goldsmith and Jewell r, 1883; Wheatley and Delamotte, Art Work in Gold and Silver, 1882; Kulmer, Die Kunst des Gold-Arbeiters, &c., Weimar, 1872; Luthmer, Der Schatz des K. von Rothschild, Fr.mkfort, 1882 sq. ; Schorn, Kunst und Gewerbe, 1874 sq.; Becker and Hefner-Altcneck, Kunstwerke und Gerdthschafti n, Frankfort, 1852-57 ; Catalogue of Exhibition of Works of Art at South Kensington, 1862; Filimoroff, Plate, Jeire/lery. <tc., in the Musee d"Armures at St Petersburg. Moscow, 1849 ; Cripps, Old nglifh Plate, 1881, College and Corporation Plate, 1881, and Old French Plate, 1880; Ferguson, Church Plate of the Diocese of Carlisle. 18S2. DESIGNS FOR PLATE. Giardini, Promptuarium Artis Argrntariie, Rome. 1750; Holbein, Oiiginal Designs for Plate, in the Print Room, British Museum, and in the Bodleian at Oxford (the South Kensington Museum also has a fine collection of original 16th-century designs in pen and ink); Viane, Models of Silver Vases, <T., Utrecht, 17th century ; Loie, Brasiers . . . et Autres Outrages de Orfe vrerie, and Noureaux dessins de gtieridons, <fec., Paris, n.d.; Maria, Litre de dessins de jouaillene, <<:., Paris, n.d.; Portefeuille d ornement, Paris, 1841. (J. H. M.) PLATE, THE RIVER, or Rio DE LA PLATA ("River of Silver"), in South America (see vol. ii. Plate xxv., and vol. iv. Plate xvii.), was at first known as Rio de Solis, after Juan Diaz de Solis, who discovered it in 1515, and lost his life on its banks. The present name, a double misnomer, was bestowed by Sebastian Cabot, who, ignorant that he was on the wrong side of the continent, thought he had reached a country of mineral wealth a mistake (perpetuated also in the designation Argentine Republic) which may be said to have received a kind of poetic justification in the fact that the distant mines of Potosi lie within the drainage area of the La Plata system. Like Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro on the Brazilian coast, this Rio is not a river but a vast estuary into which rivers discharge. At its narrowest it is 23 miles across, opposite Buenos Ayres 34 miles, and opposite Montevideo 63 miles. By some writers the conventional limit between estuary and ocean is drawn from Montevideo, where the water is still fresh enough to be drunk ; but others go farther out and take the line 150 miles across from Maldonado to Cabo San Antonio. In the former case the length of the estuary is 125 miles. At one time it must evidently have extended 200 miles farther inland to Diamante, at the bend of the Parana ; and nature is steadily and rapidly at work prolonging the rivers proper at the expense of the estuary. At low water the average depth may be taken at 18 feet, and shoals and sandbanks are abundant, especially in the upper end. Nearly the whole expanse between Buenos Ayres and Martin Garcia Island is between 3 and 6 feet deep, and a great portion is even shallower. In the shallower portions the bottom consists of a very fine hard-grained sand, in the deeper portions of a sticky ooze. The tidal movement is so disguised by the more obvious effects of wind that Mr Revy found people who had lived all their lives on the banks ready to deny its existence. But at Buenos Ayres the normal neap-tide is 5 feet 3 inches above ordinary low water, and the spring tides vary from 6 to more than 10 feet. The region being one of "storms and extraordinary
electric disturbance," with the pampero at one time blow-