But few existing specimens of English plate are older than the beginning of the 15th century. Among the few that remain the principal are chalices—such as the two large silver-gilt ones found in the coffin of an archbishop of York, now used for holy communion in the cathedral, and a fine silver chalice from the church of Berwick St James, Wilts, now in the British Museum. Both this and the York chalices are devoid of ornament, and, judging from their shape, appear to be of the first half of the 13th century, which is the date of the fine medieval chalice and paten found near Dolgelly some years ago (the latter now believed in some quarters to be of German origin). Several Tudor cups are in existence: the celebrated one of 1521 (Plate II., fig. 30), an earlier one, 1500, two covered ones of about 1510 and 1512 at Sandwich and Wymeswold, respectively; one (1515) at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and the Bodkin cup (1525) of the Corporation of Portsmouth. A very early beaker (1496) is in a private collection, as is also a small Tudor bowl (1525-1526). The earliest known chalices of silver include the Gourdon chalice and paten, the St Gozlin chalice at Nancy (10th century); the 12th-century specimen in the abbey of Wilten in Tirol.
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Fig. 18—Elizabethan Chalice. |
It is interesting to note the various changes of form through which the ecclesiastical chalice passed from early Christian times Chalices. till the 16th century. It was at first an ordinary secular cup with two handles, classical in form and of large capacity, because the laity as well as the clergy received the wine. The double handles were of practical use in passing the cup round like a modern “loving cup.” The first alteration was the omission of the handles, so that it took the form of a large hemispherical bowl, with a round foot and a knop for security in holding it. For some centuries it, appears to have been the custom for the priest to hold the chalice, while the communicant sucked the wine through a silver tube or “fistula.” Some of the most magnificent early examples of this form of chalice have the bowl mounted in bands, set with jewels, and enriched with minute filigree work—a design which appears to have been taken from those cups, such as the four magnificent examples in the treasury of St Mark's at Venice, which have their bowl cut out of crystal, onyx or some other precious stone.[1] The finest examples of this class are the Ardagh chalice, now in the Dublin Museum, and the chalice of St Remigius, in Reims cathedral; both are most magnificent specimens of the taste and skill of 10th to 11th century goldsmiths. In the 12th and 13th centuries the design becomes simpler; there is a distinct shaft, extending above and below the knop, and on the foot is marked a cross, not found in the earlier ones, to show which side the priest is to hold towards himself at celebration. The next alteration in the form of chalice, which occurred in the 14th century, was to make the foot not circular in plan but polygonal or lobed, so that the cup might not roll when laid on its side to drain, after it had been rinsed out. This form lasted in most countries till about 1500, and in England till the Reformation. Then the bowl, which in the previous two or three centuries had been slowly reduced in size, owing to the gradually introduced practice of refusing the wine to the laity, was suddenly made more capacious, and the form was altered to the shape shown in fig. 18, in order that the Protestant “communion cup” might bear no resemblance to the old Catholic “massing chalice.” This was ordered to be done in 1562 (see Arch. Journ. xxv. 44-53). The best account of the evolution in the form of English medieval chalices and patens is by W. H. St John Hope and T. M. Fallow, in Archaeologia, vol. xliii.
Secular plate during the 15th and 16th centuries was frequently similar in style to that made in Germany, though the English silversmiths of the latter century never quite equalled the skill or artistic talent of the great Nuremberg and Augsburg silver-workers. In the 17th century, during the reigns of James I. and Charles I., many fine pieces of plate, especially tall cups and tankards, were made of very graceful form and decoration. The greater part of this, and all earlier plate, especially the fine collections belonging to the universities, were melted down during the Civil War. In Charles II.'s reign returning prosperity and the increase of luxury in England caused the production of many magnificent pieces of plate, often on a large scale, such as toilet services, wine-coolers, and even fire-dogs and other furniture. These are very florid in their ornament, much of it under Dutch influence, and mostly have lost the beautiful forms of the century before (fig. 19 and Plate II, fig. 29). In the early part of the 18th century the designs of English plate were to some extent influenced by the introduction of French ornaments by the large band of French silversmiths who sought refuge in England after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. Chief among these Frenchmen (though probably not a refugee himself) was Paul Lamerie, who produced a large number of notable specimens, the largest of which is a fine wine-cooler in the Winter Palace, St Petersburg. Through the greater part of the reign of George III. English plate is more remarkable for its plain solidity than for artistic merit. With the advent, however, of the talented architects, the brothers Adam, came a taste for plate with classical characteristics. The South Kensington Museum has a small, though fine, collection of plate, varying in date from 1770 to 1788, in the Adam style. Many of Flaxman's designs were produced in plate, among the most important being the “Shield of Achilles,” in silver-gilt, at Windsor Castle. Thomas Stothard, the painter, executed several designs for goldsmith's work for Rundell and Bridge.
Fig. 19.—Covered Cup of Solid Gold, 6 in. high, c. 1660-1670. Given to Exeter College, Oxford, by George Hall, Bishop of Chester.
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Fig. 20—Silver Vase, 11 in. high, dated 1772. Designed by the brothers Adam. |
The Assay of Gold and Silver Plate.—The primitive method of testing the purity of the metal was by marking a streak with it on the touchstone, and comparing the colour of the mark with that made by various pieces of gold or silver of known degrees of purity Assay by cupellation is now employed for silver: a piece of the silver to be tested is melted with some lead in a cupel or bone-ash crucible; the lead is oxidized, and rapidly sinks into the bone-ash, carrying with it any other impurities which are present. The residue of pure silver is then weighed, and by its loss shows how much alloy it contained. Gold is now tested by an elaborate chemical process by which the trial bit is dissolved in acid, and then thrown down in the form of precipitate, which can be examined by a careful quantitative analysis (see Assaying).
The standard of purity required in the time of Edward I. Was, for gold, that it should be of the “Paris touch,” i.e. 191⁄5 carats out of 24. Before then 22 carats was the standard. Silver was to be “of the sterling alloy,” viz. 11 oz. 2 dwt. to the pound. Except for a time during the 16th century this standard of silver has been kept up, and is still required by law.
Hall-marks on Silver.—In the 13th century the English Gild of Gold- and Silver-smiths had grown into great importance, and had acquired monopolies and many special privileges. In order to keep the standard up to the required purity the system of requiring each article to be stamped with certain marks was introduced by royal command. The first of these was the
- ↑ See De Fleury, La Messe (Paris, 1882), &c.
