LIDDED TANKARD Probably London, 1696/97. Maker's mark possibly St. John Hoyte.

Conical tankard with a profiled rim. The walls with an engraved coat of arms with crest below a crown. Smooth lid with a wide rim. Engraved initials AD on the curved handle.
H 17 cm; 1,060 g.

Provenance:
- 21 July 1983, Art dealer N. Bloom & Son, London.
- Swiss private collection.

According to David M. Mitchell, Silversmiths in Elizabethan and Stuart London. Their lives and marks, London 2017, pp. 488 ff. the Maker's mark can possibly be attributed to St. John Hoyte. However, Hoyte died already in 1693, whereas the date of the tankard on offer points to a creation in 1696/97. As Mitchell states, Hoyte employed several apprentices, among whom William Lukin. Lukin worked for the widowed Frances Hoyte after his master's death, before being dismissed from apprentice service in 1699.
It is possible that Lukin and Frances Hoyte continued to use the Maker's mark before the widow registered her own mark in 1697.