Miniature tankard 1785 - 1799

This miniature tankard was created by David Clayton in the late 17th or early 18th century from silver. The silversmith would have heated and hammered the metal repeatedly to achieve the vessel’s shape, a labor-intensive process that required great skill and time. Look closely, and you can see the marks of this handwork, slight imperfections in the surface that tell a story of human effort. The handle and lid were made separately and then soldered onto the body. The delicate hinge is a feat of precision engineering. The tankard’s small size suggests it was made as a display piece or a child's toy, rather than for actual use. Silver objects like this were luxury goods, symbols of wealth and status in a society increasingly defined by material possessions. The tankard reflects a culture where craftsmanship and precious materials were highly valued, but also a growing divide between those who could afford such luxuries and those who could not. By considering the making and the social context, we can understand the tankard not just as a pretty object, but as a material record of a particular moment in history.