A large 1680 bronze mortar, by Samuel Smith of York (fl. 1672-1709), a band beneath the rim cast with a repeating pattern of delicate acanthus amidst flowerheads and scrolling foliage, and with the date '1680' and the name 'THOMAS ROGERS', a wide band at the waist cast six times with the maker's mark 'SS' 'EBOR', for York, in a scroll-edged cartouche spaced by bells amidst foliate scrolls, above three cord mouldings, the foot with recessed flange, diameter 32.5cm x height 25.5cm.

Footnote:
Ex-John Fardon Collection, sold Christie's, 1 May 1996, lot 63 and in the collection of Roger Rosewell of Yelford Manor, Oxfordshire and sold Bonham's Oxford, The Oak Interior, 21st January 2015, lot 63.
The footnote to the 1996 catalogue notes 'There are two Thomas Rogers recorded in the area [of York], one at North Loftus who died in 1684, the other from South Elasball [sic. possibly South Elmsall, West Yorkshire], it is currently unknown who, or whether either, was the owner.'
The footnote to the 2015 calendar states 'The latter is recorded in Apprenticeship records for the year 1735, as a Master Wheelwright, so it is unlikely that this mortar was made for him. It is more probable that the owner was a grocer, apothecary or mercer of some kind. Possible candidates are Thomas Rogers, who married Mary Freeman in York in 1677, or the Thomas Rogers who married Jane Watson in York in 1642. It is, of course, entirely possible that Thomas Rogers was not a native of York, or even of Yorkshire, as mortars were obviously commissioned on occasion from founders who were not local to the buyer. See, for instance, the mortar made for Roger Warde, an apothecary of York, by the Whitechapel Foundry of London. '

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