Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Ewer, silver parcel gilt, standing on a spreading gilt foot, moulded rim set with a stamped pattern of Xs, tapering cylindrical body, with four-sided folded spout extending its full depth, in white silver, engraved with a central band of gilded arabesques, and with a moulded gilt lip containing the same stamped pattern and running round the top of the spout which has a top-plate pierced with a heart-shaped pouring hole; prominent straight-sided S-shaped handle, outer face gilt; low domed cover, hinged two handle with a crossed ball and stem thumbpiece, gilt moulded lip containing the same stamped pattern, embossed in the centre with a gilt band of two satyr masks in strapwork cartouches and two pomegranates in strap frames, interspersed with pendant swags of fruit, around a frame for an enamelled 'print', now missing.

This magnificent ewer and dish were made in the Flemish city of Bruges about 1561. They were owned by William Mostyn, a Flintshire landowner and MP who died in 1576. The ewer and dish were an important status symbol and were likely to have been displayed prominently on the sideboard. However, they were also used to wash hands at the table in an age when people ate without forks.