£3,780
Scottish Works of Art & Whisky | 748
Auction: 16 August 2023 at 11:00 BST
unmarked, the simple circular silver matrix engraved with motto S’ COMMUNE BURGI DE IRVINE’ around the crest of a crowned lion gardant flanked by two trees, the simple socket set to a short wooden handle
Provenance:
The Matrix Collection
Literature:
Ancient Scottish Seals, Henry Laing 1866 page 218
Note:
This remarkable 17th-century Scottish sale is one of the earliest silver matrices to be available to private collectors. A high number of early seals such as this were made in base metal and those that do survive are most commonly found in institutions, Burgh or civic collections. One of the few silver examples to come to the open market in recent years was for the Burgh of Easter Anstruther by David Milne of Edinburgh 1613-14, sold Lyon & Turnbull Scottish Silver 16th August 2011 lot 105 (£37,250 inc. premium).
The Burgh of Irvine has been in existence since before the reign of Alexander II in the 13th century. Robert the Bruce re-erected the Royal Burgh in 1308, "mentioning it as a place of great antiquity, and from him the town obtained the right to use the royal crest on its Arms, and which appears in them as, on a shield' "a lion sejant, full-faced, gules, crowned or; holding in his dexter paw a naked sword proper, and in the sinister a sceptre, both erect." The lion sejant is seen on this seal.