Mark attributed to Daniel Beverley (active London c. 1665–97) London, England
About this artwork
Before the advent of modern refrigeration, wines could only be kept cool by storing them in well-insulated cellars, or in basins filled with ice and water. Monteiths, essentially large bowls with notched rims, were used to cool wine glasses. They first appeared in the 1680s, making this example one of the earliest of its kind. The notches were used to hang the foot of the glasses, with the bowls of the glasses dangling in the cool water. The term monteith is thought to be derived from an eccentric Scotsman named Monteith, who wore a coat with scalloped edges similar to the notches on this kind of bowl.
The monteith’s decoration features delicate chinoiserie elements (Western interpretations of Chinese-style motifs). Figures and birds are interspersed with textured panels where the silver has been repeatedly punched in imitation of shagreen, or sharkskin. The botanical ornaments on the panels are most likely bamboo. Although Chinese motifs were already popular on European furniture and textiles, this is a very early example of chinoiserie on silver. The images on the bowl were most likely influenced by the Chinese porcelain that the Dutch East India Company was importing into the European market.
The monteith is marked with the initials D B with a star above and a crescent inverted below within a quatrefoil shield; this mark has been attributed to Daniel Beverley, a silversmith active in London around 1665–97. At one time, the piece belonged to the earls of Wilton in England; it later entered the collection of the American financier J. P. Morgan.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Marks: Leopard's head crowned, lion passant, small Gothic "h" and maker's mark "D B" with star above, crescent below, within quatrefoil shield.
Dimensions
14.6 × 28.6 cm (5 3/4 × 11 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Richard T. Crane Jr. Memorial Fund
Reference Number
1947.483
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Vivian J. Scheidemantel, “A Chinoiserie Punch Bowl,” The Greater Chicago Antiques Show and Sale (March 1962), p. 19 (ill.).
Kathryn C. Buhler, French, English, And American Silver: a Loan Exhibition In Honor of Russell A. Plimpton (Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1956), p. 63, no. 49.
Ruth Bradbury Davidson, “For the Casual Collector: Chinoiserie,” Antiques vol. LXI, no. 5 (May 1952), pp. 421–23 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, “Masterpiece of the Month” (November 1949).
“Editors’ Attic: Silver from the Morgan Collection in Chicago,” Antiques vol. LV, no. 1 (January 1949).
An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (1948), p. 17 (ill.).
Meyric R. Rogers, “Early Silver from the Morgan Collection,” The Art Institute of Chicago Bulletin vol. XLIII, no. 5, (September 1948), pp. 59–64, fig. 4.
Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, “Superb Old English Silver… Property of the Estate of the Late J. P. Morgan,” November 1, 1947, p. 163, no. 471 (ill.).
Joseph Downs, “The China Trade and Its Influences,” Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art vol. XXXVI, no. 4 (April 1941), pp. 84–95, fig. 2.
The China Trade and its Influences (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1941), fig. 25.
E. Alfred Jones, “Monteith Bowls,” Antiques vol. XXXVII, no. 1 (January 1940), pp.23–25, fig. 1.
Charles James Jackson, English Goldsmiths and Their Marks, 2nd ed. (London: 1921), p. 144.
Charles James Jackson, An Illustrated History of English Plate, Ecclesiastical and Secular vol. II (London: 1911), p. 798, fig. 1031.
E. Alfred Jones, Illustrated Catalogue of the Collection of Old Plate of J. Pierpont Morgan, Esq. (London: 1908), pl. XXV.
J. Starkie Gardner Old Silver-Work, Chiefly English…. A Catalogue of the Unique Loan Collection Exhibited in 1902 at St. James’s Court, London (London: 1903), p. 71, pl. LXX, fig. 1.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chinoiserie from China to Chicago, 1670–1940, March 1–June 1, 2014.
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, Cathay Invoked - Chinoiserie - A Celestial Empire in the West, June 10–July 31, 1966, no. 104, pl. XXIX.
Minneaoplis Institute of Arts, French, English, and American Silver, June 9–July 15, 1956, no. 49.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The China Trade and its Influences, April 23–September 21, 1941, fig. 25.
St. James’s Court, London, Old Silver-Work, Chiefly English, 1902. pl. LXX, fig. 1.
Earl of Wilton, Heaton Hall, Manchester, England, by 19023 (see Gardner 1903); J. Pierpont Morgan, New York and London, by 1908 (see Jones 1908); sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, November 1, 1947, lot 471; Art Institute of Chicago, 1947.
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