A LARGE COMMONWEALTH BRONZE MORTAR

A LARGE COMMONWEALTH BRONZE MORTAR

MADE FOR EDWARD COLLIS BY RICHARD KEENE OF WOODSTOCK, DATED '1658'

the moulded everted rim above three bands of wire mouldings and the inscription and date 'Edward Collis 1658', interspaced with two fleur-de-lis stops, above four further bands of wire mouldings, with a recessed foot

24cm high, 27.8cm diameter

Provenance

Philip Harris Medical Limited.

Upper Slaughter Manor, The Collection of Micheál and Elizabeth Feller.

Catalogue Note

The present lot is illustrated in Michael Finlay, 'English Decorated Bronze Mortars and their Makers', p.108, pl.209. Richard Keene, according to Finlay, was working between 1654-1698 and employed a particularly distinctive alphabet set and a fleur-de-lis set formerly employed by Henry Farmer in Gloucestershire and James Keene, also of Woodstock.