Silver altar flagon, by John Keith

An image of Church plate. Altar flagon. Keith, John, silversmith, London. The flagon stands on a stepped and slightly domed foot, the step of which is pierced with a series of holes. The tapering cylindrical body is annulated with roll moldings, one at the top and bottom, and two pairs at intervals between. The cover is attached to the body by means of a hinge with a trefoil-shaped thumbpiece pierced by four hearts; the lower part of the side of the cover is pierced with a series of groups of four holes. The S-shaped spout is engraved with a pair of spiralling lines, and is linked to the body by a cinquefoil within a circle. The curling ends of the flat, ear-shaped handle terminate in fleurs-de-lys. Below the moulding at the top of the body there is a border of engraved scallops and small circles. Between the upper pair of roll mouldings there is a running trefoil-ended cross pattern against a diagonally hatched ground. Between the lower pair is the inscription 'TE LAVDAMVS TIBI BENEDICIMVS' preceded by a Cross, and with a lozenge between TE and LAVDAMVS and between TIBI and BENEDICIMVS. On a disc inserted under the foot is the inscription 'To the Glory of God and in loving remembrance of Thomas Barber who fell asleep in Jesus on the + Feast of the Circumcision 1863. +'. Silver, raised body, with many traces of gilding, and engraved decoration, height, overall, 26.5 cm, width, handle to spout, 18 cm, weight, whole, 680 g, between 1861-1862. Gothic Revival. Victorian. SL.2043.

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

Church plate. Altar flagon. Keith, John, silversmith, London. The flagon stands on a stepped and slightly domed foot, the step of which is pierced with a series of holes. The tapering cylindrical body is annulated with roll moldings, one at the top and bottom, and two pairs at intervals between. The cover is attached to the body by means of a hinge with a trefoil-shaped thumbpiece pierced by four hearts; the lower part of the side of the cover is pierced with a series of groups of four holes. The S-shaped spout is engraved with a pair of spiralling lines, and is linked to the body by a cinquefoil within a circle. The curling ends of the flat, ear-shaped handle terminate in fleurs-de-lys. Below the moulding at the top of the body there is a border of engraved scallops and small circles. Between the upper pair of roll mouldings there is a running trefoil-ended cross pattern against a diagonally hatched ground. Between the lower pair is the inscription 'TE LAVDAMVS TIBI BENEDICIMVS' preceded by a Cross, and with a lozenge between TE and LAVDAMVS and between TIBI and BENEDICIMVS. On a disc inserted under the foot is the inscription 'To the Glory of God and in loving remembrance of Thomas Barber who fell asleep in Jesus on the + Feast of the Circumcision 1863. +'. Silver, raised body, with many traces of gilding, and engraved decoration, height, overall, 26.5 cm, width, handle to spout, 18 cm, weight, whole, 680 g, between 1861-1862. Gothic Revival. Victorian. SL.2043.

Image data

Accession Number: M.13-1981
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Photographer name: Image Library
Image height: 1502 pixels
Image width: 1024 pixels
Processed with: ACD Systems Digital Imaging
Filesize: 167.01kB

Key words

19th Century _WF_AdOK _WF_KWD _WF_OPAC altar flagon church plate cinquefoil cover ecclesiastical English engraved engraving Fitz_AA flagon fleur-de-lis fleur-de-lys gilded gilding Gothic Revival handle handled inscribed inscriptions John Keith lidded liturgical pierced raised religion religious silver silverware spout spouted Victorian

Citation for print

This page can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:


            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024)
            "Silver altar flagon, by John Keith"
            Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-135243287 Accessed: 2024-12-18 22:01:42

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this page on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:


            {{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-135243287
            |title=Silver altar flagon, by John Keith
            |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-18 22:01:42|publisher=The
            University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/images/media-135243287

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/portfolio/F25982D9_7CB9_CFFF_028E_8BBFC531887C/507/856/large_M_13_1981_mas.jpg"
        alt="Altar flagon"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Silver altar flagon, by John Keith</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>