Vase

Handleless covered vase on a nearly flat, stepped circular foot decorated with repousse chased arabesques on a snakeskin or textured ground bordered by lobe-and-leaf bands; low-domed cover is topped by a ball-and-acanthus-leaf finial or knop and has three cast swags of fruit and flowers suspended from bowknots applied to its rim. Cover struck once on collar exterior with a lion rampant in clipped-corner shield. Vase struck with four marks on underside of flat bottom, "I*D" in raised serif letters in a rectangle, a crowned leopard's head in shield, lion rampant in shield, and raised gothic or end english "C" in shield, all with clipped corners. Red-bordered white paper labels adhered to inside of lid and underside of vase are inscribed (in blue ink) "1758 London / John Deacon / [a] silver vase / [is] very rare".