Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

The Barncleuch spoon

A rare and important Charles I Scottish Puritan spoon,

by George Gleghorne, Edinburgh circa 1653-5, Deacon's mark of Andrew Burrell I,

oval bowl with a rudimentary rat-tail, flat tapering stem with three notches to the terminal, the base of the handle with four engraved bands of decoration, the reverse of the bowl scratch initialled 'QH' over 'MD', for Quintin Hamilton of Barncleuch, it is assumed that the 'MD' is for Marion Denham, his wife, length 19.2cm, approx. weight 2oz.

Provenance:

The David Constable Collection.

Lyon and Turnbull, 16 August 2010, lot number 254.

Private Collection.

How of Edinburgh, 1993.

Sotheby's Gleneagles, 30 August 1982, lot 483.

Thence by descent.

Reputedly found in the gardens of Barncleuch House.

Illustrated and written up in Constable, D., The Silver Spoons of Britain,1200-1710, Volume two, Constables Publishing, 2016, pages 909-911, entry number 206.

Illustrated in Dalgleish and Fothringham, Silver Made in Scotland, pages 52-3.

For a full list of Scottish Puritans see Colin Fraser, 'An important new discovery in early Scottish Silver', the Finial, (Vol.19/01, September /October 2008).

Exhibited: Silver Made in Scotland (item 3.47).

The date of the marriage between Quintin Hamilton and Marion Denham is untraced, however it is presumably contemporary with this spoon. They are believed to have had five children. Upon Quintin's death circa 1680, he was succeeded by his eldest son John, who died on 21 February 1705 without a direct heir.

Quintin Hamilton succeeded his father James Hamilton and took over the house and gardens at Barncleuch. They had been constructed by his grandfather John Hamilton of Barncleuch, commissary of Campsie in 1583.

The date of this spoon can be narrowed down to the 10 September 1653, when Andrew Burrell became deacon, and 15 September 1655 when George Cleghorne became deacon.