Scallop shell dish
Edward Aldridge I (fl.1724 - 1766)
Category
Silver
Date
1763
Materials
Silver
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 609291
Summary
Three scallop shell silver dishes with applied flat handle with curved outline. Engraved with the Hill crest. Maker's mark for Edward Aldridge, London, 1763. These scallop shell dishes were often described in the 18th century as scallops or ‘scollops’ ‘for oysters’. Alternatively they could be used to cook a fish dish in, in much the same way as actual shells are still used today. Philippa Glanville cites the following 1723 recipe in Silver¸ 1996, p. 43: ‘Lay a piece of Sweet Butter at the Bottom of your Silver Scallop Shell; then get a quantity of Large Oysters, and cut off the fins; put four in a shell, with some of their own liquor strain’d, grated Bread, a little Salt, Pepper, and a spoonful of white wine, and cover them with grated Bread, and set them over your stove to stew; and hold over them your Browning-iron; Half an hour will stew them’. They would then be taken to the table to serve. It is also possible that these dishes could have been used for sauces or relishes for the table.
Provenance
Attingham collection; bequeathed to the National Trust with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Marks and inscriptions
Engraved with the Hill crest
Makers and roles
Edward Aldridge I (fl.1724 - 1766), maker