Tankard lid with handle fragment

The touch is probably the mark of Thomas Wansworthe [Wandsworth] London, OP4947, recorded from 1573, and dismissed from the Livery in 1577. There is a significant entry in the Pewterers’ Court Minutes for 1573-4: ‘Item receyued, of Thomas Wansworthe, for a fyne, of certeyne Stone tankardtes, of his makinge, verie vnworkemanlie handled, the some of xij d.’ (Welch I, 2002, p. 279). Rhenish stoneware was commercially imported into London from the late 15th century. The practice of adding pewter lids at the point of wholesale or retail was widespread and a study of touch marks on extant lids suggests that the majority were manufactured in the Low Countries (see D. Gaimster, 1997 German Stoneware 1200-1900, p 133). By the mid to late 16th century London pewterers were also supplying lids and mounts for imported Rhenish stoneware (Welch, 1902, I, 174, 189 and 289) and one record of 1581 suggests that pewter lids cost 2s per dozen. For further information on pewter-mount manufacture in Gent during the 16th century see A.Van Den Kerkhove, 1975, ‘Tin’, in Gent: duizend jaar kunst en cultur, vol. III Stadsontwickkeling en Architectuer. Keramiek. Koper en Brons. Ijzerwerk. Tin. Meubelkunst. Tapijkunst, Gent, 379-439. See Forsyth, Gadd, 2017, cat. no. 37, p. 27.