Silver boat engraved with birds amidst flowers and foliage

An image of Boat. Vessel. Unknown silversmith, possibly Constantinople, Byzantium. The elongated boat-shaped body is pointed at both ends and teminates in a mask of a lion's head. Round the exterior of the rim is an engraved border of scrolling foliage and an inscription. The interior is gilt, and the sides of the are engraved with birds amidst flowers and scrolling foliage. In the centre and at either end of the slightly domed base are small plugs. Silver, gold surface, parcel-gilt with engraved decoration, height, prow, 6.4 cm, width, overall, 19.9 cm, width, overall, 7.8 cm, weight, whole, 153.5 g, 1700-1800. Accessioned as 14th century, now considered 18th century.

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Boat. Vessel. Unknown silversmith, possibly Constantinople, Byzantium. The elongated boat-shaped body is pointed at both ends and teminates in a mask of a lion's head. Round the exterior of the rim is an engraved border of scrolling foliage and an inscription. The interior is gilt, and the sides of the are engraved with birds amidst flowers and scrolling foliage. In the centre and at either end of the slightly domed base are small plugs. Silver, gold surface, parcel-gilt with engraved decoration, height, prow, 6.4 cm, width, overall, 19.9 cm, width, overall, 7.8 cm, weight, whole, 153.5 g, 1700-1800. Accessioned as 14th century, now considered 18th century.

Image data

Accession Number: M.17-1951
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Aperture: f/29.0
Focal length: 100
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Photographer name: Michael Jones
Image height: 683 pixels
Image width: 1024 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.4 (Windows)
Filesize: 85.03kB
Exposure time: 1/100
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 29/1
Captured: 2008:11:05 17:05:28

Key words

18th Century boats Byzantine cast engraved engraving Fitz_AA gilded gilding gilt gold inscribed inscriptions lions mask matted parcel-gilt prow raised Silver silverware vessel

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2026)
            "Silver boat engraved with birds amidst flowers and foliage"
            Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-206102 Accessed: 2026-01-05 10:06:02

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            {{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/image/media-206102
            |title=Silver boat engraved with birds amidst flowers and foliage
            |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2026-01-05 10:06:02|publisher=The
            University of Cambridge}}

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<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa37/large_M_17_1951_1_200811_mfj22_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Vessel"
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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Silver boat engraved with birds amidst flowers and foliage</figcaption>
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