A VICTORIAN AESTHETIC MOVEMENT SILVER TRAY, MARK OF WALTER AND JOHN BARNARD, LONDON, 1878

A VICTORIAN AESTHETIC MOVEMENT SILVER TRAY
MARK OF WALTER AND JOHN BARNARD, LONDON, 1878
In the Chinese manner, shaped oblong with reeded and bamboo borders, the handles imitating lacquer, engraved in the centre with sparrows and insects in flight above a lily-pad strewn pond, with orange blossom branch and wild flowers, engraved with crest and motto on one side, the other with inscription, marked underneath
21 ¾ in. (55 cm.) wide
69 oz. 19 dwt. (2,176 gr.)
The crest is that of Ethelston.
The inscription reads 'Presented to Edmund Ethetston [sic.] Esqr. by the Tenantry of the Hinton and Wickstead Estates and other friends on the attainment of his majority, 5th November 1878' and records the gift of the tray to Edmund Ethelston (1857-1922) of Hinton Hall, Shropshire, on his 21st birthday.