Ellis Finch
Head of Knightsbridge Silver Department
Lot 87
A rare 18th century Irish provincial silver mug by Mark Fallon, Galway circa 1730
5 April 2017, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £15,000 inc. premium
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A rare 18th century Irish provincial silver mug
by Mark Fallon, Galway circa 1730
Straight-sided with a double-scroll handle, engraved with two crests, height 12cm, weight 10oz.
Straight-sided with a double-scroll handle, engraved with two crests, height 12cm, weight 10oz.
Footnotes
After the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland (1688-91), during which the Jacobite town of Galway was besieged and captured, various punitive and oppressive laws and regulations were introduced. This caused a great many families to leave the area, and trade and industry inevitably suffered.
It is for this reason that Galway silver is so seldom encountered, with the majority of surviving pieces for religious use. Indeed, the present lot is one of only three known secular pieces made by Mark Fallon: the two others being a cruet frame and a further mug which was sold in these rooms on 23rd November 2011. Both that mug and the current lot are engraved with the contemporary marriage monogram 'F R*A', as well as with the same embowed dolphin crest of Ffrench. It is interesting to note that on both mugs additional but different crests have been engraved above the dolphin: a collared stag's head on the present lot, and a demi-lion with crescent on the other. The style of the engraving suggests this was done around 1800, and it seems likely that the mugs were made as a pair circa 1730 and split up at the same time that the later engravings were carried out.
PROVENANCE
On display at the Victoria & Albert Museum 1974 - 2003.
Additional information
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