Each with a flattened circular body, chased and engraved on one side with scenes of medieval knights and horses in rocky landscapes with castles in the distance, the other side engraved with a crest, raised on a spreading rectangular stem and shaped oval foot, chased with scrolling foliage, mermaids, and grotesque masks, the cylindrical neck with acanthus, dolphins, and flowering urns topped by a fixed domed cover chased with leaves and with beaded border the scrolled handles cast with grotesque heads and acanthus issuing from the mouths of turtles surmounted by putti.



This magnificent pair of pilgrim flasks is an almost exact replica of an unmarked German silver-gilt pilgrim flask, probably produced in Nuremburg circa 1540, now preserved in the Green Vaults, Dresden (inventory no. IV 253). Cast, chased and applied details, from tops of the handles down to the to the feet, are faithfully reproduced, though the Dresden example is applied at the neck with the coat-of-arms of the Electorate of Saxony, and is slightly taller, at a height of 31 in. (81cm.).



The form of the 'pilgrim flask' originates with the leather water-flasks carried by religious pilgrims or travellers of the Middle Ages. T. Schroder, tracing the development of the form in The Gilbert Collection of Silver and Gold, Los Angeles, 1988, p. 455, cites the earliest silver examples as French works of the 16th century. Although these early instances were described as 'flagons', they were made with the same elongated necks and oval sections or flattened bodies of later examples. Popular until the end of the 16th century, the form saw a revival in manufacture in the 1660s, with particularly exquisite flasks being produced in the late 17th and early 18th century.



The grandest early pilgrim flasks provided inspiration in the 19th century for Robert Garrard and Edward Farrell, who produced magnificent revivalist examples, including the present pair, as grand display plate. Many examples by Garrard were presented as gifts from the royal and noble families of Europe.



The Dresden prototype upon which the present pair are based is first recorded in 1591, among the inventory of the Electoral Chambers in the Stallgebäude, or state stable building. The inventory connects it with a pair of bar tables designed as artificial mountain steps for the display of silver articles. The chased scenes to the present pair also differ from the Renaissance example: where each of the present flasks is chased at one side with a Romantic depiction of mounted knights, the Dresden flask is chased to front and back, with one side depicting five commanders besieging a town, and the other depicting a rider with a prisoner of war, alongside a hound in front of a besieged castle. The Dresden landscapes appear to derive from a graphic source close to the Danube school. See J. Menzhausen, The Green Vaults, Leipzig, 1970, no. 11, pl. 11.



The stag’s head affrontée crest and ducal coronet are those of Clan Gordon, whose roots trace to the 11th century Scottish Highlands. The clan motto, ‘Bydand’ derives from the Old Scots word bide, meaning ‘steadfast’ or ‘abiding’, testifying to the family members’ resilience and resoluteness. The crest and motto were adopted by the British infantry regiment, the Gordon Highlanders, who employed it in their insignia and cap badges from the regiment’s creation in 1881, until their amalgamation with the Queen’s Own Highlanders in 1994.