Mustard pot
Edward Barnard and Sons
Category
Silver
Date
1899 - 1900
Materials
Sterling silver and coloured glass
Measurements
50 mm (Height)
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 872308
Summary
Mustard pot, sterling silver with blue glass liner, by Edward Barnard & Sons, London, 1899/1900. Associated mustard spoon, sterling silver, by Thomas Northcote, London, 1791/2. The pot has an oval body which is straight sided and formed of seamed sheet with pierced decoration of two squared dot-and-line bands either side of an intersecting wave motif. There is an applied moulding at the lip and the foot ring is reeded as is the flat-topped harp-shape handle. The plain, round-ended thumb-piece (bent forwards from the intended vertical) sits in front of the three-part pin hinge which connects the handle to the plain oval cover. There is an incision in the cover, opposite the handle, to accommodate the stem of a spoon. The interior of the pot is fitted with a plain blue-glass liner which is contemporary. The associated spoon has a long, tapering stem, a downturned and rounded terminal and an almost hemispherical bowl. Heraldry: The cover of the mustard pot is engraved with the crest of a lion rampant above a walled mound. The family represented by this crest has not been identified. Hallmarks: POT - fully marked on the underside of the foot rim with maker’s mark W J M S around large B and above R D for Walter, John, Michael and Stanley Barnard with Robert Dubock (Edward Barnard & Sons, 1896 registered mark), sterling lion, leopard’s head and date letter ‘d’ for 1899/1900. Cover marked on the underside with maker’s mark as above, sterling lion and date letter ‘d’. SPOON - marked on the underside of the terminal with sterling lion, date letter 'q' for 1791/2, monarch's head facing right and maker's mark T pellet N in a rectangular punch for Thomas Northcote (Arthur Grimwade, London Goldsmiths (1990), no. 2854).
Full description
The mustard pot is in the form of the late 18th century, oval pots first emerging in the 1780s. It also follows the typical pierced patterning of the period. The engraved crest on the cover is similar but not identical to that on NT 872310, a pair of pepper casters of 1900-02. It does not seem to relate to any families closely connected to the Parkers, Earls of Morley and nor does it appear in key works on heraldry. The mustard pot, along with the casters, may have been a gift to, or purchase by, Montagu, 5th Earl of Morley (1878-1962). The plain spoon which is now associated with the mustard pot has no engraved armorials or initials. James Rothwell, National Curator July, 2025
Provenance
At Saltram by 1962 and given to NT as part of the endowment by Montagu Brownlow Parker (1878-1962), 5th Earl of Morley
Credit line
Saltram, the Morley Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Edward Barnard and Sons, goldsmith Thomas Northcote, goldsmith