Lot 216
AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY CENTRAL AMERICAN, SPANISH COLONIAL, SILVERGILT TRAY
of shaped rectangular outline with embossed, fluted scrollwork around the border with flat-chased leafy scrolls and animals at intervals around the rim; a rabbit, two hounds, a boar, a hare & a deer, the shaped and recessed centre section also flat-chased with a large formal reserve or cartouche of leafy scroll with either a satyr or a wading bird in each corner and an armed horseman in the centre with his sword at the ready, engraved at the top with an Earl's coat of arms**, and the motto "NEC CUPIAS NEC METUAS", no maker's mark, struck twice with the "crown" mark, for the Captaincy General of Guatemala as the country was known as under Spanish rule, and struck once with the crossed swords mark for the city of Leon (now in present day Nicaragua), 1800-1820; 20.5" (52.3 cms) long; 46.7 oz
*A very similar piece, very likely by the same maker has been noted with the maker's mark "AB", listed in Santiago de Guatemala, the name given to the capital city of the General Captaincy of Guatemala under Spanish rule 1540-1821
**The arms are those of Yorke, Earls of Hardwicke.
The most likely candidate is Admiral Charles Philip Yorke, 4th Earl of Hardwicke, PC (2 April 1799-17 September 1873), a British Naval Commander and Conservative politician, who inherited the Earldom from his cousin in 1834.
