Hall marks on gold & silver plate

INTRODUCTION. ii
Both porringers and caudle cups were used for drinking posset ;
they were mostly made in the seventeenth or in the early part of the
eighteenth centuries, and are often of most elegant form and ornamentation.
Various other small cups and jugs were made, two of which we
illustrate.
Sm.\ll Silver Cur.
Date 1649-50, belonging to
A. C. Fletcher, Eaq.
a^bns aub Basins.
"As yoii know, my house within the city
Is richly furnished with -plate and gold;
Basins and ewers to lave her dainty handsT
Shakespkare, " Taming of tlie Shrew," II, i, 348.
In the Middle Ages ewers and basins were much used at meals, for
when people ate more or less with their fingers, it was essential that
these vessels should be carried round after each course, in order that
the guests might wash their hands.
The introduction of forks in the seventeenth century rendered
the use of the ewer and basin, to a large extent, unnecessary, and
they therefore ceased to be made for that purpose.
At Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, there is an early ewer
and salver of the year 1545. The ewer has eight sides, somewhat
like a large coffee-pot, with spout, handle and lid, and ornamented
with engraved arabesques. The salver is also ornamented with