Description:
Silver wine funnel or strainer made by Henry Chawner (1764-1851), which is fully marked with the touchmark "HC" in an oval, and lion passant, leopards head, and date letter "r." Henry Chawner was trained in the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths of London, a guild that taught and regulated the gold and silver trade in England. He was freed by patrimony (Chawner was specially elected for freedom by a selection committee) to pursue his own business in 1785. He was established in London by 1786, when he received his first set of marks (of two sizes) as a plateworker; his second set of marks was assigned in 1787. From the late 1780s and through 1790s he was well known for his silver wares, making a variety of forms ranging from coffee pots to inkwells. Chawner gained his third mark when he partnered with John Emes in August of 1796. He was elected from the body of guild members as a "Liverymen," and later as an "Assistant" in 1801. Assistants are elected from the Livery and govern the company; it was a mark of distinction and respect. The funnel has a long spout with canted end; keyhole-shaped shaped clip on side of rounded body used to attach strainer to bowl or other vessel; and a concave, pieced screen inside the body. These straining funnels were developed in the 1760s to strain out wine sediment, and began to supersede wine syphons.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+78.458 |
