DOI issue:
No. 367 (October 1923)
DOI article:Littlehales, Henry: Medieval English silver
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21398#0225
MEDIAEVAL ENGLISH SILVER
BY H. LITTLEHALES 000
BY the recent acquisition of the finest
known example of English silver-
smith’s work, now permanently installed
at the Victoria and Albert Museum at
South Kensington, attention has been
directed towards English work of this
character. 00000
The following note refers to some of the
finest pieces of silver ever constructed in
this country. Some description is here
given of the great censer of Ramsey Abbey,
the Norman candlestick of Gloucester
Cathedral, the more curious of the forty
odd chalices still existing, with also a few
notes on pyxes, etc. 0000
First on the list of existing mediaeval
silver stands the great censer, once in use
at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire.
This magnificent vessel needs little des-
cription, for it is clearly portrayed in the
official photograph kindly supplied by the
Director of the South Kensington Museum.
This censer was found in the last century
when Whittlesea Mere was drained, and
there is every reason to believe that it
formed part of the plate belonging to
Ramsey Abbey before the Reformation,
and that on the dissolution of the monastery
it was buried beneath the waters of the
Mere. The Director’s account of the
censer describes it as of English gold-
smith’s work of the fourteenth century,
and standing nearly a foot in height. 0
The incense-boat is of the same period,
and was found with the censer and several
plates of pewter. 0000
The Gloucester candlestick is of far
earlier date, and more massive in con-
struction. It is of silver plate on base
metal. This, too, is at the Victoria and
Albert Museum. It was made in Norman
times, and stands rather more than a foot in
height. This magnificent candlestick was
for many years in use on the altar of one
of the French cathedrals. 000
The Berwick chalice, now in the British
Museum, was formerly in use at the little
Church of St. James, Berwick, in Wiltshire.
It is the oldest of the mediaeval chalices
and was made many years before the
Ramsey censer. 0000
The chalice of the Church of St. Mary,
in the strange foreign-looking old port of
Sandwich in Kent, is of particularly
curious form, being much like a shallow,
flat-bottomed, rather straight-sided bowl,
set on a short, fat foot or stem. It is but
THE HAMSEY INCENSE-BOAT
(By courtesy of the Victoria
and Albert Museum)
205
BY H. LITTLEHALES 000
BY the recent acquisition of the finest
known example of English silver-
smith’s work, now permanently installed
at the Victoria and Albert Museum at
South Kensington, attention has been
directed towards English work of this
character. 00000
The following note refers to some of the
finest pieces of silver ever constructed in
this country. Some description is here
given of the great censer of Ramsey Abbey,
the Norman candlestick of Gloucester
Cathedral, the more curious of the forty
odd chalices still existing, with also a few
notes on pyxes, etc. 0000
First on the list of existing mediaeval
silver stands the great censer, once in use
at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire.
This magnificent vessel needs little des-
cription, for it is clearly portrayed in the
official photograph kindly supplied by the
Director of the South Kensington Museum.
This censer was found in the last century
when Whittlesea Mere was drained, and
there is every reason to believe that it
formed part of the plate belonging to
Ramsey Abbey before the Reformation,
and that on the dissolution of the monastery
it was buried beneath the waters of the
Mere. The Director’s account of the
censer describes it as of English gold-
smith’s work of the fourteenth century,
and standing nearly a foot in height. 0
The incense-boat is of the same period,
and was found with the censer and several
plates of pewter. 0000
The Gloucester candlestick is of far
earlier date, and more massive in con-
struction. It is of silver plate on base
metal. This, too, is at the Victoria and
Albert Museum. It was made in Norman
times, and stands rather more than a foot in
height. This magnificent candlestick was
for many years in use on the altar of one
of the French cathedrals. 000
The Berwick chalice, now in the British
Museum, was formerly in use at the little
Church of St. James, Berwick, in Wiltshire.
It is the oldest of the mediaeval chalices
and was made many years before the
Ramsey censer. 0000
The chalice of the Church of St. Mary,
in the strange foreign-looking old port of
Sandwich in Kent, is of particularly
curious form, being much like a shallow,
flat-bottomed, rather straight-sided bowl,
set on a short, fat foot or stem. It is but
THE HAMSEY INCENSE-BOAT
(By courtesy of the Victoria
and Albert Museum)
205