Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:12:24.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The ‘Armada Service’: a Set of Late Tudor Dining Silver

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Dora Thornton  and
Michael Cowell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Discovered in a potato barn in a small Devonshire village in 1827 (fig. I), the ‘Armada Service’ is one of the most important groups of English silver to have been found in England. It consists of a set of twenty-six parcel-gilt dishes, engraved with the arms of Sir Christopher Harris of Radford, Devon (c. 1553–1625), and those of his wife, Mary Sydenham (fig. 2). The dishes form part of the dining silver accumulated by Sir Christopher between 1581 and 1602, whenever cash or metal was available to be converted by London goldsmiths into this recognized, tangible evidence of wealth and social status. The ‘Armada Service’ is the unique survival of a type of utilitarian plate which is listed in the inventories of the gentry and aristocracy of the late Tudor and early Stuart periods. Undecorated plate of this sort would have been particularly vulnerable in times of financial need, since its bullion value far outweighed its decorative appeal.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 76 , March 1996 , pp. 153 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, J. 1856. A History of the Borough of Liskeard, LondonGoogle Scholar
Andrews, K. R. 1964. Elizabethan Privateering, 1585–1603, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Andriette, E. A. 1971. Devon and Exeter in the Civil War, Newton AbbotGoogle Scholar
Appleby, J. 1992. ‘Devon privateering from early times to 1688’, The New Maritime History of Devon, 1, 90–8, ExeterGoogle Scholar
Bencard, M. and Markova, G. 1988. Christian IV's Royal Plate and his Relations with Russia, RosenborgGoogle Scholar
Boynton, L. and Thornton, P. K. 1971. ‘The Hardwick Hall Inventories of 1601’, Furniture Hist., 7, 1–47Google Scholar
Carew, R. 1602. The Survey of Cornwall, LondonGoogle Scholar
Catalogue Inventaire de la Peinture Ancienne, 1984. Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, BrusselsGoogle Scholar
Chadwyck Healey, C. E. H. 1902. Bellum Civile: Hopton's Narrative of his Campaign in the West, Somerset Ree. Soc, 18Google Scholar
Christie's 1911. Sale of Fine Old English Silver Plate of the 16th-17th and 18th Centuries, and an Elizabethan Banqueting Service, the Property of Mrs Cator, 13 June 1911, LondonGoogle Scholar
Daborne, R. 1612. A Christian Tum'd Türke:/or, / The Tragicall Lives and Deaths of two famous Pyrates, / Ward and Dansiker. / As it hath been publickly Acted. / written by Robert Daborn, Gentleman. LondonGoogle Scholar
Evans, M. 1992. The Sforza Hours, LondonGoogle Scholar
Firth, C. H. (ed.) 1908. Naval Songs and Ballads, Navy Ree. Soc., 33Google Scholar
Furnivall, F. J. (ed.) 1877. William Harrison's Description of England, 2 vols, LondonGoogle Scholar
Glanville, P. 1990. Silver in Tudor and Early Stuart England, LondonGoogle Scholar
Gordus, M. F. and Gordus, J. P. 1974. ‘Neutron activation of gold impurity levels in silver coins and art objects’, in Archaeological Chemistry (ed. Beck, C. W.), American Chemical Society, 124–47, WashingtonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grand Siècle 1993. Grand Siècle: Peintures Françaises du XVIIe Siècle dans les Collections Publiques Françaises, Musée des Beaux Arts de Rennes, RennesGoogle Scholar
Green, M. A. E. (ed.) 1888. Calendar of Proceedings of the Committee for Advance of Money, 1642–56, LondonGoogle Scholar
Greg, W. W. 1939. A Bibliography of the English Printed Drama to the Restoration, LondonGoogle Scholar
Guerra, M. F., Barrandon, J. N., Collin, B., Le Roy Ladurie, E. and Morrison, C. 1991. ‘The diffusion of the silver from Potosi in the 16th century Spanish coinage: a new analytical method’, in Archaeological Sciences 1989 (eds Budd, P., Chapman, B., Jackson, C., Janaway, R. and Ottaway, B.), 28–35, BradfordGoogle Scholar
Hasler, P. W. (ed.) 1981. The History of the House of Commons, 1558–1603, 2 vols, LondonGoogle Scholar
Hawkings, D. J. 1987. Water from the Moor. An Illustrated History of the Plymouth, Stonehouse and Devonport Leats, ExeterGoogle Scholar
Heitmann, B. 1986. ‘Nachträge zum Hamburger Silber’, Jahrbuch des Museum's für Kunst und Gewerbe, 40–3, HamburgGoogle Scholar
Hinds, A. B. (ed.) 1909. Calendar of State Papers, Venetian, 1617–19, vol. 15, LondonGoogle Scholar
Hoos, H. 1992. Profanes Silber, 16–20 Jahrhundert, Frankfurt am MainGoogle Scholar
Hughes, P. and Larkin, J. F. (eds) 1969. Tudor Royal Proclamations 1577–1603, 3 vols, New Haven and LondonGoogle Scholar
Jackson Stops, G. (ed.) 1985. The Treasure Houses of Britain, WashingtonGoogle Scholar
Keeler, M. F. 1954. The Long Parliament, 1640–1641. A Biographical Study of its Members, PhiladelphiaGoogle Scholar
Kingsford, C. L. (ed.) 1922–1923. ‘Inventory for Probate of the goods of Robert, Earl of Leicester, 1588’, Archaeologia, 22, 28–48Google Scholar
Latham, R. and Matthews, W. (eds) 1972. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 11 vols, LondonGoogle Scholar
Lemon, R. 1856. Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, LondonGoogle Scholar
Long, C. E. (ed.) 1859. Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army during the Great Civil War kept by Richard Symonds, Camden Soc, old ser., 74, LondonGoogle Scholar
Lunsingh Scheurleer, T. H., Willemijn Fock, C. and Van Diasel, A. C. 1992. Het Rappenburg, Geschiedenis Van een Leidsegracht, deel VI A; Het Rijk van Pallas, LeidenGoogle Scholar
Marsden, R. C. 1907. ‘The Vice-Admirals of the Coast’, Engl. Hist. Rev., 22, 468–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, G. 1981. Chemical Analysis of the Cambridge Plate Exhibits, Victoria and Albert Museum, unpublished reportGoogle Scholar
Martin, P., 1988. Spanish Armada Prisoners, The Story of the Nuestra Señora del Rosario and her Crew, ExeterGoogle Scholar
McKerrell, H. and Stevenson, R. B. K. 1972. ‘Some analyses of Anglo-Saxon and associated Oriental coinage, in Methods of Chemical and Metallurgical Investigation of Ancient Coinage (eds Hall, E. T. and Metcalf, D. M.), Royal Numis. Soc. Special Pub., 8, 195–210Google Scholar
Moerman, I. W. L. 1978. ‘Een tinnen servies vit het midden van de iode eeuw’, Leids Jaarboekhje, 69–80Google Scholar
Oliver, G. and Jones, P. 1845. A View of Devonshire in 1630, ExeterGoogle Scholar
Pickford, I. (ed.) 1989. Jackson's Silver and Gold Marks of England, Scotland and Ireland, LondonGoogle Scholar
Pitman, C. 1920. A History of the Pitman Family, LondonGoogle Scholar
Prideaux Courteney, W. 1889. The Parliamentary Representation of Cornwall, LondonGoogle Scholar
Roberts, J. C. de V. 1993. ‘Christopher Harris of Radford’, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, 37.3, 82–7Google Scholar
Roberts, J. C. de V., 1958. The Parliamentary Representation of Devon and Dorset, unpublished MA thesis, University of LondonGoogle Scholar
Rowse, A. L. 1941. Tudor Cornwall, LondonGoogle Scholar
Schliemann, E. (ed.) 1985. Die Goldschmiede Hamburgs, 3 vols, HamburgGoogle Scholar
Schroder, T. 1988. The National Trust Book of English Domestic Silver, LondonGoogle Scholar
Schroder, T., 1992a. The Armada Service, LondonGoogle Scholar
Schroder, T., 1992b. The Gilbert Collection of Gold and Silver, Los AngelesGoogle Scholar
Seelig, L. 1994. Silber und Gold. Augsburger Goldschmiedekunst für die Hofe Europas, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, MunichGoogle Scholar
Senior, C. 1976. A Nation of Pirates. English Piracy in its Heyday, Newton AbbotGoogle Scholar
Smirnova, J. J. and Heitmann, B. 1985. Gold und Silber aus dem Moskauer Kreml, Meisterwerke Hamburger Goldschmiedekunst, 1500–1700, NurembergGoogle Scholar
Stuart, E. 1991. Lost Landscapes of Plymouth, StroudGoogle Scholar
Sydenham, G. F. 1928. The History of the Sydenham Family, privately printedGoogle Scholar
Thornton, D. 1993a. ‘The Armada Service’, Apollo Mag., January, 49Google Scholar
Thornton, D., 1993b. ‘The Armada Service’, British Mus. Soc. Mag., Spring, 28Google Scholar
Thornton, D., 1993c. ‘The Armada Service’, Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, 37.3, 81Google Scholar
Townend, P. (ed.) 1965. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 3 vols, LondonGoogle Scholar
Townshend, D. 1904. The Life and Letters of the Great Earl of Cork, LondonGoogle Scholar
Venn, J. A. 1951. Alumni Cantabrigiensis, part 2, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
Vivian, J. L. 1895. Visitations of the County of Devon comprising the Heraldic Visitations of 1531, 1564, and 1620, ExeterGoogle Scholar
Western Antiquary 1886. ‘The Harris Plate’ in ‘Notes’, Western Antiquary, 6, 42–3Google Scholar
Whitlock, R. 1977. The Folklore of Devon, LondonGoogle Scholar
Wilson, T. 1990. ‘Recent acquisitions of post-medieval ceramics and metalwork in the British Museum's Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, 1988–1990’, Burlington Mag., 132, October, 671Google Scholar
Worth, R. N. 1874–1875. ‘The Siege of Plymouth’, Rep. Trans. Plymouth Institution, 5, 250–311, PlymouthGoogle Scholar
Worth, R. N., 1884. ‘Sir Francis Drake: his origin, arms, and dealings with the Plymouth Corporation’, Trans. Devonshire Assoc., 17, 505–8Google Scholar
Youings, J. 1980. ‘Drake, Grenville and Buckland Abbey’, Trans. Devonshire Assoc, 112, 95–9Google Scholar