the base with a band of stiff upright acanthus leaves, one with the scratch weight 27-11-0 and the other with a scratch weight 27-18-0, 25cm high, (c.54 tr. ozs combined)
Provenance: Almost certainly Thomas Medlycott (1628-1716) recorder of Abingdon, Oxfordshire 1675-1686
His son, James Medlycott (1658-1731) of Ven House, Milborne Port, Somerset
Thomas Medlycott, son of the above
Thomas Hutchings, nephew of the above
Sir William Coles Medlycott (1767-1835), son of the above
Sir William Medlycott (1806-1882)
Sir William Medlycott (1831-1887)
Sir Edward Medlycott (1832-1902)
Sir Mervyn Medlycott (1837-1908)
Sir Hubert Medlycott (1841-1920)
Sir Christopher Medlycott (1907-1986)
Sir Mervyn Medlycott (1947-2021)
and thence by descent.
Note: These exceptional examples of Restoration silver may be compared to a pair of vases in the Dutch style fashionable from the 1660’s exhibited in “The Treasure Houses of Britain: 500 Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting”, the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, November 1985-March 1986, no. 118. These richly fashioned vases were used as display plates on a sideboard or on the stepped mantel shelves above a fireplace, in the same way that Chinese and Japanese porcelain was displayed at this period. Few of these vases bear a full set of hallmarks, since they were usually made on commission and therefore “not set to sale”, which required assay and marking. Unlike the larger ginger jar exhibited in Washington DC, the Sandford Orcas vases bear the makers mark of Jacob Bodendick, generally regarded as the leading “Dutchman” working in London during the third quarter of the 17th century. The Sandford Orcas ginger jars may also be compared to a pair of Charles II silver vases sold at Christie’s 20th November 2001 with provenance to Mrs William Randolf Hearst Snr. and the British Rail Pension Fund.
