Large Victorian Irish Silver Dish (Potato) Ring Wakely & Wheeler

Code: FA0932

A really stunning large 19th century Irish silver dish ring, fitted with a blue glass liner as is often the case. It has a concave vacant cartouche and the rest of the piece is pierced and engraved with a really fabulous array of wild animal scenes with a hunting theme. There is a huntsman sat in a tree taking aim at a large male lion who is looking over his shoulder in fear as he makes his escape, then a large stag is being chased at pace by a wolf and finishes with a female lion eyeing up a small child / putto hiding up in the branches. A very unusual and interesting set of scenes, very finely executed.

Hallmarked for Dublin 1896/97, makers James Wakely & Frank Clarke Wheeler.

It measures 21cm (8 5/16") wide across the base, 19cm (7 1/2") across the upper rims and 9cm (3 1/2") high. It weighs in total 926g, the silver weight 402g / 12.9ozt.

Condition: the dish ring itself is in excellent condition with no damage, losses or repairs and handling wear is minimal. The blue glass liner has been professionally repaired to a section of the rim at our request of our restorer. This is fully stable and sealed but the lines internally can of course still be seen when held to the light as glass cannot be repaired truly invisibly.

Dish rings were used as trivets to protect fine table surfaces from hot dishes. They are sometimes called potato rings but they have nothing to do with the serving of potatoes! They were also not produced with the glass liners that usually accompany them; these were added retrospectively to many rings in order to use them as decorative objects and show off the workmanship that many good examples demonstrate. They are usually in blue but can be clear or other colours. 

This liner doesn't fit as snugly at the top as others I have seen so this may not be the liner that was made for this ring but as I say there are no such things as original liners and some dish rings would not have had liners made for them at all but will subsequently have been matched up with a well fitting liner from another piece.