Extremely Rare Commonwealth Sterling Silver Porringer Stand or Salver, London 1656

An extremely rare Commonwealth sterling silver porringer stand or salver, London 1656 mark of Daniel Rutty (b. 1628, free 1650, d. before Jan 1676), likely from the workshop of Arthur Manwaring (free 1643, d.1678) Circular with scalloped rim and embossed decoration of repeating stylised leaf-like forms heightened with flat chasing and repeating crescent-shaped punchwork. The centre has a recessed section bordered with repeating flat-chased leaf-like forms, engraved with a contemporaneous coat of arms surrounded by a laurel wreath. Foot deficient. Fully marked to the edge, also with scratch weight 20=5 to the underside. Diameter 28.2cm (11in). Weight 513gm The arms are for Elmes impaling Clarke For Thomas Elmes (c.1591-1664) and Ann Clark (d.1686), they were married circa April 5th 1621, Thomas was the son of Thomas Elmes of Lilford Hall (d.1632) and his wife Christian Hickling (1563-1635). Thomas inherited the manor of Wormington, Northamptonshire from his father. Anne was the daughter of Richard (or Robert) Clarke, of Forde, near Wrotham in the County of Kent. This coat of arms is found upon their monument within the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Warmington, Co. Northamptonshire, published: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northamptonshire, Volume 6, Architectural Monuments in North Northamptonshire, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1984. It is important to note that on the arms for Clarke the engraver has mistakenly engraved a rose rather than a cinquefoil and has placed this on a bend indented whereas it should have as blazoned ‘a bend engrailed’ only. A porringer stand of almost identical form, save for minor differences to the internal flat chased border but also bearing the distinctive repeating crescent-shaped punch work to the rim, of 33.6 cm diameter and marked for 1657 by Arthur Manwaring with its accompanying porringer was sold Sotheby’s London, 2 June 1977 Lot 247 (£8,800). Another porringer stand at 28.6cm with its accompanying porringer of 1655 marked for Manwaring was sold at Christie’s Geneva 14 Nov 1972 ($18,155) (illustrated Mitchel 2017, page 225), this example too is of extremely similar form and bears the distinctive crescent-shaped punch work to the stand and to the lid of the porringer. This 1655 porringer and stand are described by Michael Clayton as “one of the most important pieces made during the Commonwealth period.” There are about five examples of these commonwealth porringer stands. (This item came from a family collection who were unsure if their father inherited it or bought it many decades ago) This example is not in any published texts as far as we can see.