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The King's Plate: Charles II

Charles II.'s font has the general appearance of a large, covered bowl standing on a slender, rounded column, giving a somewhat top-heavy effect. a The bowl has a diameter of seventeen and five-eighths inches, and is six inches in depth. It has a flat and plain edge with narrow lines incised under the lip. The body is embossed with designs showing various flowers and six amorini in different poses. One of these is holding a torch, another a mantle, a third hammer, whilst the other three hold respectively a sword, ropes, and a sheaf of corn. The royal arms of the Stuarts are engraved inside the bowl. The cover of the font is dome-shaped, divided into four tiers, on top of which stands a vase-shaped pedestal supporting two figures representing St. Philip baptising the eunuch. The cypher of Charles II. surmounted by a crown is engraved on the cover. The lower and broadest tier is embossed with six amorini in various attitudes, whilst the smaller upper tiers are decorated with acanthus and water leaves. Supporting the bowl of the font is a high, rounded column, divided halfway up by a large compressed knop and decorated with acanthus leaves, tulips and other flowers. The knop is divided by narrow, flat moulding into two sections, chased with acanthus foliage. The column stands on a circular splayed base, also chased with acanthus foliage, and measuring only nine and a half inches in diameter. The cypher of Charles II. with the royal arms, garter and motto, are engraved on the base.

The basin or alms dish which goes with the font is a massive and handsome piece of plate. On a plain centre are engraved large the royal arms of the Stuarts surrounded by an embossed laurel circlet. The broad border of the basin is embossed with various devices; the outlines of monster faces; three amorini differently posed and holding sprays of flowers, and three large birds-probably intended for eagles-with spreading wings. The intervening spaces are filled in with flowers in bold outline. a The two flagons, which are of very handsome design, probably had no original connection with the font and alms dish, but became intimately associated with them from having been used as one set at the baptism of many princes and princesses, amongst whom were all the children of George III. The high relief designs on these flagons are perhaps hardly clerical, however classical. They have more the shape and appearance of tankards, and though they have general similitude, differ somewhat in design and size, and may therefore be separately described. The larger is undoubtedly of German origin, made, as the marks show, at Hamburg; but the decoration on the borders of the cover and at the base are probably English. The design in high relief on the drum represents a bacchanalian scene of limited morality; the lip is moulded and plain. The base is wide and splays from a plain moulding on the drum, and is boldly embossed with the faces of cuttle-fish. The handle is scrolled and foliated, and has a grotesque head on the shoulder and at the lower end. The thumbpiece is formed of a double-foliated scroll. The cover has a wide border which is decorated with the same devices as the base, and on top is a circular medallion on which may be seen repoussé figures of Venus and Adonis seated Plate XII THE QUEEN'S ORB THE KING'S PLATE near trees with a Cupid before them. The height of this tankard is eleven inches, and its diameter at the mouth is five and three-quarter inches. are The second and slightly smaller flagon or tankard is also of German origin, and shows the same Hamburg marks as the larger. The decorations on the borders of the cover and the base are as before, and the handle and thumbpiece the same. The bacchanalian scene on the drum, which is in high relief, leaves little to the imagination. The scene on the medallion on top of this flagon differs from that on the larger flagon, in that Adonis has now assumed a helmet, whilst Cupid is clinging to the limbs of Venus. The height of this tankard is ten inches, and the diameter at the mouth is five and seven-eighths inches. THE MAUNDY DISH This dish is taken once a year, under a guard of the Yeomen of the Guard, to Westminster Abbey, and there used for the distribution of the Maundy money to the aged poor. This ceremony takes place on the Thursday before Good Friday, and the number of the poor thus benefited is the same as the King's age in that year. The actual Maundy money consists of a silver penny, silver twopenny, silver threepenny, and silver fourpenny; but other handsome doles in money and clothing are at the same time made. The ceremony was inaugurated in the reign of Charles II. in place of the more ancient custom of distributing the Royal Bounty; and the Maundy Dish, though it bears the cypher of William and Mary, dates back to the reign of Charles II.