The Dodding Tankard: A Charles II silver tankard, maker's mark IH, a fleur de lys between two pellets below (Jackson's, p. 136, line 14), London, 1671

the cylindrical body and domed hinged cover flat-chased with Chinoiserie figures within a fanciful landscape, on three cast eagle supports, similar thumbpiece, cast handle

William Dodding (1668-1685), to his cousin
Robert Mawdsley (fl. 1720)
The Rev. Thomas Mawdsley (d. circa 1737)
Christie's, London, 27 May 1908, lot 100 (purchased by Harding)
Crichton Brothers, London
Sir John Noble of Ardkinglas, Bt. (1865-1938)
Sir Andrew Noble of Ardkinglas, Bt. (1904-1987), Christie's, London, 24 November 1943, lot 47
Sotheby's, London, 9 July 1964, lot 98 (purchased by S.J. Shrubsole)
Christie's, New York, 20 April 2000, lot 279

'Age of Walnut' Loan Exhibition, 25 Park Lane, London, 1932
Wine Trade Loan Exhibition, Vintners' Hall, London, June 1933
'One Hundred Years of English Silver, 1660-1760,' University of Art Museum, University of Texas, Austin, 1969, ex. cat.  

Sir Charles James Jackson, Silver and Gold Marks, London, 1905, p. 130, line 10
Michael Clayton, The Collector's Dictionary of Silver and Gold, London, 1971, p. 398, fig. 602

Hallmarks to the body clear, also clear to cover through Chinoiserie decoration. The engraving is generally good with wear commensurate with age. The interior is quite bright in colour. The handle is a little loose in the hinge as typical with tankards of this type. The cast handle, feet and finial are good for age. Sits flat on an even surface. Generally good condition.
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The Latin inscription reads: ‘Ex dono/  Guli: Dodding de / Conishead armḡ: de= / =funct 23 . Jun: Anno 1685 / Charissimo : suo . Consobrino / Rob:  Mawdsley de: Mawd= / sley Armg: haredibusq / suis in p.petuã ejus / memoriam’

A translation of the inscription reads: ‘The gift of William Dodding of Conishead esquire died 23 June 1685 to his most dear cousin Robert Mawdsley of Mawdsley esquire and to his heirs in perpetuity in his memory’

At the time when this tankard was made (1671/72) and decorated (circa 1685) the  Dodding and Mawdsley (otherwise Maudsley or  Mawdseley) families of Lancashire lived respectively in Conishead, near Ulverston and Mawdsley Hall, Mawdsley, near Croston. The two locations were some 80 miles apart. Both prominent in their localities, they were related through the marriage at Ulverston on 8 April 1657 of Alexander Mawdsley and Elizabeth Dodding. She was a sister of Miles Dodding (1640/42-1683) whose only surviving son, William, died of smallpox at the age of 18 in 1685, leaving the Dodding tankard to his first cousin Robert, son of the aforementioned Alexander and Elizabeth.

Given the discrepancy between the date of the tankard and of its inscription and decoration, it is tempting to suggest that the piece originally belonged to William’s father, Miles Dodding. Although no items of plate are mentioned in the latter’s will, signed on 7 April 1683, this document indicates that he was a man of some wealth. In addition to his house at Conishead and land elsewhere in the north of England, he also owned property in London at Chancery Lane and Bell Yard, St. Dunstan’s in the West; and at Middle Row, Temple Bar, St. Clement Danes, in which parish his father George had died in 1650/51.

Miles Dodding furthermore left a guide to his hopes for the future of his then 15 year old son: ‘William Dodding shall have Competent maintenance & good Educa[t]ion who I Earnestly desire may bee carefully & virtuously brought upp with Learning until he bee fit for the university and then either to bee sent thither or otherwise committed to the Tuition of my Reverend & worthy friend Mr. Marseden of Walton who I hope will be careful to Instruct my s^d. sonn in the principals and fundementalls of the true protestant Religion as it is now Settled and Established by Law as alsoe in sure learning as is proper & useful for a Gentleman & [. . .] Qualifie him to Serve his King and Countrey.’ (Barrow Archive and Local Studies Centre, ref. BD HJ 90/Bundle 20/2)

Sadly, son followed father to the grave just two years later. It is assumed that William Dodding left instructions for his silver tankard to be inscribed as a memorial gift to his cousin, and decorated in the newly fashionable flat-chased Chinoiserie style. He may also have suggested the inclusion on its lid of the unusual family group of two figures holding an infant as a reference to his wish, stated in the Latin inscription, that the tankard be passed eventually to his cousin Robert’s ‘heirs in perpetuity.’

Robert Mawdsley’s ultimate heir, the Rev. Thomas Mawdsley of Astley is said to have died in or before 1737 but by then the Mawdsley Hall estate was so encumbered with debts that it had to be sold by the executors under an order of the Court of Chancery. What happened to the Dodding tankard meanwhile is not known, although its very survival suggests that it may have been acquired and retained by members of the wider Mawdsley family. It made its reappearance nearly 200 years later when it was sold as ‘The Property of a Gentleman’ for £255 11s. 3d. at Christie’s on 27 May 1908 (lot 100).

Further sources:
Thomas West, The Antiquities of Furness, new edition, London, 1905, pp. 276-277
John Gough Nichols and Ponsonby A. Lyons, ‘Pedigree of Bradyll,’ An History of the Original Parish of Whalley, 4th edition, vol. II, London, 1876, p. 3
Victoria County History, A History of the County of Lancaster, vol. 6, London, 1911, pp. 96-100
Victoria County History, A History of the County of Lancaster, vol. 8, London, 1914, pp. 348-356

Remarkable features of this rare Charles II tankard are the cast auricular handle and the eagle feet and thumbpiece. While the former may be compared with other near-contemporary English silver inspired by certain European prototypes (see, for instance, the handle of the Drapers’ Company tankard, maker’s mark DR below a coronet, London, 1661, illustrated in Charles Oman, Caroline Silver, London, 1970, pl. 28B), the birds are identical as regards  size and pattern to those on a number of other vessels of the period. The most arresting in this group are the pair of silver tankards, Thomas Jenkins, London, 1671, from the Foley-Grey Collection, now at Dunham Massey, which incidentally also have striking cast auricular handles (James Lomax and James Rothwell, Country House Silver from Dunham Massey, The National Trust, 2006, pp. 54 and 55, cat. 8). Judith Banister, writing of Jenkins and the ‘lions, eagles, dolphins, billets or grotesque handles’ which are a feature of his work,’ says that he cannot be assumed to be alone in his use of such decorative details. ‘They appear on tankards, porringers and cagework cups [see an example with eagle feet, probably Nicholas Woolaston, London, circa 1670, Christie’s, New York, 10 December 1986] by most of the leading silversmiths of this time. At least two very fine tankards by IH, a fleur-de-lys and two pellets below, 1671 and 1675 feature even more elaborately grotesque handles and eagle feet and thumbpiece, complete with Jenkins-style corded ribs around the barrel.’ (The Proceedings of the Society of Silver Collectors, London, vol. II, nos. 11/13, p. 187). These two pieces are, respectively, the present Dodding tankard and the example engraved with the arms of Long of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, impaling those of Bayly of Biddeford and Bristol, which first came to notice in 1922 (The Times, London, 17 February 1922, p. 8b; and Sotheby’s, London, 4 December 2012, lot 398).

The London maker’s mark IH, a fleur de lys between two pellets below has been recorded on a number of noteworthy examples of late 17th Century goldsmiths’ work. These include, a gold two-handled cup and cover, 1680 (Corporation of Oxford); and the following silver items:  a pilgrim bottle, 1663 (Sotheby’s, London, 18 June 1981, lot 193); a spice box, 1672 (Sotheby’s, London, 20 February 1964, lot 93); a pair of silver-gilt vases and covers, 1675 (Christie’s, London, 14 December 1938, lot 73); a porringer and cover, 1679 (Sotheby’s, London, 23 April 1981, lot 225); a pair of vases, circa 1680 (Christie’s, London, 2 March 1994, lot 115); and a silver-gilt cup and cover, 1681 (Corporation of Nottingham).