AN ANGLO-INDIAN SILVER-GILT MOUNTED MOTHER OF PEARL BOWL, THE MOUNTS PROBABLY ENGLISH, CIRCA 1650 |

shallow circular form with plain abalone panelled body, stylised acanthus rims, on a spreading circular base

Unmarked. Three of the acanthus teeth to the upper rim are missing. One mother-of-pearl panel is split in two places. Otherwise good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Philippa Glanville’s essay, ‘Mother-of-Pearl’ (Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1990, pp. 319-321), provides a brief but fascinating survey on the appeal of mother of pearl among goldsmiths’ wealthy patrons of the 16th and 17thCenturies. As she says, the ‘beauty and costliness’ of the material chimed perfectly with ‘the Renaissance taste for combining natural and artificial wonders.’ It was a taste that maintained its popularity over many years, as surviving examples testify, from the important to the relatively modest. Early English examples include a silver-gilt mounted cup and cover, maker’s mark RW, London, 1590 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 68.141.120a, b). In 1649 there were ‘six Fruit dishes of Mother of Pearle garnished about with silver gilt’ and ‘Six rich casting bottles of silver gilt, and richly garnished with mother of pearle’ in the Tower of London (The Society of Antiquaries of London, Archaeologia, ‘An Inventory and Appraisement of the Plate in the lower Jewel House of the Tower, Anno, 1649,’ London, 1851, p. 275). A similar two-handled bowl to the present example can be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum (see Glanville, op. cit. pg. 451, no. 81.).

We can also be in no doubt that mother of pearl continued its appeal long after the middle of the 17th Century. Among the hundreds of articles of mother of pearl jewellery and silver and mother of pearl snuff boxes which were reported to have been lost or stolen well into the 18th Century, we find a number of other cherished objects in these valuable materials. In 1687, for instance, a certain Richard Anis made away from Greenwich with some of his master’s goods including ‘a Mother of Pearl Spoon, the handle Silver Gilt, the fashion a Horses Leg’ (The London Gazette, London, 15-18 August 1687, p. 2b); and in 1709 John Williams, a boy servant, disappeared from his employer’s house on Great Tower Hill with ‘a Pearl Cup with a Silver Foot and a Silver Handles [sic], and a Silver Rim’ (The Post Man and the Historical Account, London, 14-16 April 1709, p. 2a)