{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O104703"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O104703/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BB4612/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BB4612/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BB4612","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O104703/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O104703","accessionNumber":"M.55C-1946","objectType":"Spice dish","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This is one of six related silver-gilt dishes in the V&A collections which may  originally have been part of a larger group of twelve. They are rare examples  of silver intended for dessert, or 'banqueting', a costly course of fruits and  sweetmeats which came after the main meal and was often enjoyed in a  separate location. At the royal palaces of Hampton Court and Nonesuch, a  select few (perhaps six to eight people) would have had their senses pleased  in an intimate banqueting house where all accoutrements were as luxurious  as the food served. Dessert was an opportunity for hosts to flatter guests  with very expensive rareities such as refined sugar from Cyprus or Madeira.  A silver dish for meat would have been plain, but dessert dishes, like this one,  were elaborately decorated with fine engraving or chasing (designs  hammered into relief) and were often gilded. Sometimes they were made  from another precious material such as mother of pearl, painted glass or  tortoiseshell.\n\nThe mid 17th century coat of arms engraved on the V&amp;A dishes hides an  earlier erased coat of arms. Faint traces of the earlier one can be seen,  enough to identify the original owner as William Cecil, 1st Lord Burghley, who  was Lord Treasurer and chief advisor to Elizabeth I and one of the richest  and most accomplished patrons of the arts of the 16th century. The lack of  wear on the dishes raises the possibility that while they followed the pattern  of dessert dishes, they may have been used primarily for display on a  sideboard or 'buffet' rather than for use. The exquisite and complex scheme  of engraving on each dish would certainly be seen to better advantage. The  engraver combines a border of fashionable arabesque ornament (scrolls of  pointed leaves) encompassing birds, animals and monsters with fantastical  marine scenes in the well of each dish surrounding a biblical scene in the  centre.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Spice dish, (one of a set of six, engraved with scenes from the stories of Abraham and Issac), silver-gilt, engraved with with the scene of Rebecca at the well holding up a jug to two travellers, whose camels are in the background, surrounded by fanatstic marine monsters.  The rim engraved with panels filled with birds and beasts amdist foliage and roundels engraved with birds and a coat of arms.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Roger Flint","id":"A10530"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53829"},{"text":"amalgam gilding","id":"AAT53790"},{"text":"raising","id":"AAT237068"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silver-gilt, engraved","categories":[{"text":"Food vessels & Tableware","id":"THES48952"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2006BB4612"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"65","id":"THES49734"},"free":"","case":"1","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Plate","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1573-1574","earliest":"1573-05-19","latest":"1574-05-18"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"M.55-1946","id":"O91960"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"M.55A-1946","id":"O104702"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"M.55B-1946","id":"O78604"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"M.55D-1946","id":"O104704"},"association":""},{"object":{"text":"M.55E-1946","id":"O104705"},"association":"Set"}],"creditLine":"Purchased with  Art Fund support and assistance from the Murray Bequest","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"25.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"2.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"511","unit":"g","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Struck on the rim of the dish:\r\nMaker's mark 'RF' in a shaped punch, probably Roger Flint; Sterling mark, a  lion passant; London town mark a crowned leopard's head; date-letter 'q' in  a shield-shaped punch for 1573-1574.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"A shield charged with three lozenges conjoined in fess within a border; above  the lozenges an anulet.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"The arms are pounced on the rim and replace an earlier coat positioned  there. They are probably those of William Montagu of Oakley, Bedfordshire  (died 1691)."}],"objectHistory":"Three identical coats of arms were originally engraved on the rim of this  bowl. Two have been mostly erased and hidden by scrolling foliage  ornament, the third is covered by a later coat of arms. Close examination of  these traces reveals the original arms to be those of William Cecil, first Lord  Burghley (1520-98), Lord Treasurer to Elizabeth I (Schroder: 2004, pp. 3-4) . The later arms are those of the Montagu family, and may refer to William  Montagu of Oakley, Bedfordshire, fifth son of Lord Chief Justice Sir Edward  Montagu (d. 1556).\n\nThis is one of six similar engraved plates, all with Montagu arms, which appear to have remained in the possession of the family from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, when they were  sent to auction at Christie's, London, by Captain Frederick Montagu who had  inherited the plates from his uncle, Andrew Montagu of Ingmanthorpe Hall,  Yorkshire, and Papplewick Hall, Nottinghamshire. The Museum purchased all  six plates at the sale on July 3rd, 1946.\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Silver-gilt dish, London hallmarks for 1573-74, mark of Roger Flint, engraved with scrolling ornament, sea monsters and a central scene from the biblical Book of Genesis showing Rebecca at the well holding up a jug to two travellers, whose camels are in the background.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Oman, Charles and Jonathan Mayne. Six Elizabethan Silver-Gilt Plates. <u>The Burlington Magazine</u>. July 1947, vol. 89, pp. 182 and 184-87."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Glanville, Philippa. <u>Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England. A Social History  and Catalogue of the National Collection 1480-1660</u>. London: Victoria and  Albert Museum, 1990. ISBN 1851770305"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Schroder, Timothy. Lord Burghley's silver spice dishes. <u>Apollo</u>. February  2004, vol. 159, pp. 3-12."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Taylor, Gerald. Some London platemakers' marks, 1558-1624', <u>Proceedings  of the Silver Society</u>. 1984, vol. III.4, pp. 97-100."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Rebecca","id":"N559"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"coat of arms","id":"AAT126352"},{"text":"sea monsters","id":"x35278"},{"text":"birds","id":"x35043"},{"text":"beasts","id":"x35333"},{"text":"foliage","id":"x42645"},{"text":"camels","id":"x30284"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"SET OF SIX SPICE PLATES\r\nSilver-gilt\r\nLondon, 1573-4\r\nMark: FR conjoined\r\nThe engraved sea-monsters are similar to engravings by  Adriaen Collaert of  Antwerp (about 1560-1618) and the birds  in roundels derive from  engravings by Virgil Solis of Nuremberg  (1514-1562). The engraving, of  unusually high quality, is  attributed to the engraver P over M, presumably a  foreign  visitor to London. The arms of Montague on the rim have been added later.\r\nAcquired with funds from the Murray Bequest and the National  Art- Collections Fund\r\nM.55 to F-1946","date":{"text":"pre-2001","earliest":"2001-01-01","latest":"2001-12-31"}},{"text":"7. Four spice bowls\r\nSilver-gilt\r\nLondon, 1573-4\r\nMark of Roger Flynt\r\nFrom a rare Elizabethan silver dessert or banqueting set. The  rich engraving and gilding marked the importance of the final  course of the meal, the 'banquet', which usually consisted of  expensive sugar-based sweetmeats and fruit. The engraving on  the rims, wells and centre of each bowl is in three distinct styles  but the sources have not yet been precisely identified. The  centres depict the biblical stories of 'Abraham entertaining three  angels', ' Rachel at the well', 'Meeting of Isaac and Rachel' and  'Jacob steals the blessing of Isaac'. A possible source for the  marine creatures engraving in the wells is the work of Adriaen  Collaert of Antwerp, who published designs in the late 16th  century.\r\nM. 55 a, c, d, e-1946","date":{"text":"2002 -","earliest":"2002-01-01","latest":"2002-12-31"}},{"text":"Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars label text: \r\n\r\nSpice dish\r\n1573–4\r\n\r\nThis is one of a set originally made for William Cecil, 1st Lord Burghley, Lord Treasurer to Elizabeth I. The elaborate arabesque borders frame biblical scenes.\n\r\nThis one features Rebecca at the Well. The sophisticated decoration shows that the set was intended for display rather than use.\r\n\r\nLondon\r\nMade by Roger Flynt\r\nGilded silver\r\nV&A M.55c-1946","date":{"text":"2013","earliest":"2013-01-01","latest":"2013-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["M.55C-1946"],"accessionNumberNum":"55","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1946,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2004-09-10","availableToBook":false}}