Henslowe Ewer and Basin, 1563 [Si2 and Si3]
Maker’s mark: unicorn head; London hall-mark: letter ‘e’; inscribed around the base of the basin:’ MANERS MAKET MAN QVOTHE WYLLYAM WYKEHAM’; inscribed around the rim of the basin: ‘+HANC PELVIM CUM SVO GVTTVRNIO DE NOVO FECIT RADOLPHVS HENSLOWE Ao DNI 1563 CVI DEVS RETRIBVAT IN ILL DIE’
Silver and parcel-gilt (basin D. 40.5 cm; ewer H. 22.8 cm)
Ewer and basin sets were used for hand washing during meals, and often formed the centrepiece of displays of silverware in Tudor dining rooms. These outstanding examples of English Renaissance silver were refashioned from earlier items already in the College’s possession. Both pieces are set with enamelled medallions with the Founder’s arms. Round the bottom the basin is engraved: MANERS MAKET MAN QVOTHE WYLLAM WYKEHAM. The inscription around the rim records that they were the gift of Ralph Henslowe, a local squire, in 1563. Henslowe’s son Henry headed the list of boys elected to College that year.
Literature: Charles Oman, ‘The Winchester College Plate’, The Connoisseur (January 1962), pp. 1-11, 3, 5; Richard Foster, Winchester College Treasury: A guide to the collections (Winchester, 2016), pp. 8-9; Richard Foster (ed.), Fifty Treasures from Winchester College (London, 2018), pp. 76-77.
Provenance: Given by Ralph Henslowe to Winchester College, 1563
Location: Treasury, Gallery 1