Rare Elizabethan silver-gilt tankard, London 1592, with maker’s mark IB possibly for John Brodie (Brode), or John Bottomley, sold for £30,000 at Bonhams.
It was sold by order of the Parochial Church Council of St Michael’s Church, West Hill in the Diocese of Exeter and had never appeared on the open market before.
Estimated at £20,000-30,000, it hammered down at the top estimate for £30,000 (plus 28% buyer’s premium).
As cited in the history of this 19th century parish church, it was given to St Michael’s on its consecration in 1846 by Lady Mary Coleridge (1788-1874).
The passage reads: “Lady Coleridge, wife of Sir John, gave the small tankard flagon marked IB, with rose in base, London 1592. The handle is scroll shaped with angel’s head as thumbpiece.
“Round the base of the lid and on top of the barrel is arabesque ornamentation; round the foot is a cable moulding; below this, egg and dart ornamentation with egg and tongue work at the base.”
A near-identical silver-gilt tankard with the same maker’s mark, the same date and the same monogram was offered at Sotheby’s in 1973, as ‘The property of Trinity Church, Upper Dicker’ in East Sussex. It is highly likely they were once a pair.
Jackson suggests that the tapering cylindrical form of tankard seen here first appeared in c.1570 and was derived from silver mounted horn vessels. About thirty 16th century tankards from this date survive: the shape remained fashionable until c.1620.
More by ‘IB’
A number of similar silver-gilt tankards by the maker are recorded, including a 1604 example formerly in the Astor collection (sold at Christie’s in 1981) and another pair in the Gilbert Collection held at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Interestingly, the Gilbert Collection pair and Bonhams tankard share the same style of thumbpiece (a cast putto’s mask) with several other Elizabethan flagons by different silversmiths. They may well have been supplied to the trade by a specialist maker.
Prices for silver from this period have fallen in the past decade as the pool of buyers becomes smaller.
Similar examples sold for £51,650 at Sotheby’s London in 2009, £37,500 at Christie’s in London in 2013 and $65,000 at Sotheby’s, New York, in 2017.
