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Lot Essay
There is much confusion about the Tain silversmith Hugh Ross as there were at least three silversmiths by that name working in the town between the late 17th and late 18th centuries. G. P. Moss and A. D. Roe in their book Highland Gold and Silversmiths, (Edinburgh, 1999, pp. 152-155) note that a silversmith by the name of Hugh Ross was working as an apprentice in Inverness to Robert Innes in 1717, though documentary evidence of this has not been found. This silversmith was believed to have subsequently established a business in Tain by around 1725. The name appears in various records through the 18th century until his death at some point towards the end of the century. Moss and Roe record him as being the earliest Tain silversmith whose work is extant (op. cit., p. 152) and suggest he had son who was a silversmith of the same name around 1740 (op. cit., p. 153) however it would seem that this refers to Hugh Ross II and Hugh Ross III, the son and grandson respectively of the silversmith who is most likely to have produced the present quaich.
An important body of the work of Tain silversmiths is preserved in the Tain and District Museum who own work by three distinct Hugh Ross': Hugh Ross I (c.1680-1732); Hugh Ross II (c.1715-1770) and Hugh Ross III (c.1745-1787). Of the three it would seem the Ross I was the most ambitious, producing for example a thistle cup (Tain and District Museum Cat. No. 2790) and a tott cup (Tain and District Museum Cat. No. 2596). Another quaich, described as by Hugh Ross II, circa 1740, was acquired for the collection of the Tain and District Museum from Lyon and Turnbull 13 February 2008. That example was engraved to simulate staves, similar for example to one by David Mitchell, Edinburgh, 1737, in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland (H.MEQ 135) however not with the thistles and flowers as on the present example. The presence of such engraving seems to have been a feature of earlier quaichs, for examples one marked for William Clerk, Glasgow, 1698 (see M. Clayton, The Collectors Dictionary of the Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, Woodbridge, 1985, p. 294, fig 423).
No exact dates have been established for the various marks used by the various Ross' however the distinctive maker's mark HR conjoined with which the present lot is marked, is published by I. Pickford in Jackson’s Goldsmiths and Their Marks, (Woodbridge, 1989, p. 617) as appearing on a quaich of 1725-1730, which reinforces the suggestion of an earlier date for the present example. The later marks also often include a letter, imitating the system of date letters used by other assay offices, and in some cases also the bust of St Duthac, the patron saint of Tain, flanked by initials SD.
An important body of the work of Tain silversmiths is preserved in the Tain and District Museum who own work by three distinct Hugh Ross': Hugh Ross I (c.1680-1732); Hugh Ross II (c.1715-1770) and Hugh Ross III (c.1745-1787). Of the three it would seem the Ross I was the most ambitious, producing for example a thistle cup (Tain and District Museum Cat. No. 2790) and a tott cup (Tain and District Museum Cat. No. 2596). Another quaich, described as by Hugh Ross II, circa 1740, was acquired for the collection of the Tain and District Museum from Lyon and Turnbull 13 February 2008. That example was engraved to simulate staves, similar for example to one by David Mitchell, Edinburgh, 1737, in the collection of the National Museum of Scotland (H.MEQ 135) however not with the thistles and flowers as on the present example. The presence of such engraving seems to have been a feature of earlier quaichs, for examples one marked for William Clerk, Glasgow, 1698 (see M. Clayton, The Collectors Dictionary of the Silver and Gold of Great Britain and North America, Woodbridge, 1985, p. 294, fig 423).
No exact dates have been established for the various marks used by the various Ross' however the distinctive maker's mark HR conjoined with which the present lot is marked, is published by I. Pickford in Jackson’s Goldsmiths and Their Marks, (Woodbridge, 1989, p. 617) as appearing on a quaich of 1725-1730, which reinforces the suggestion of an earlier date for the present example. The later marks also often include a letter, imitating the system of date letters used by other assay offices, and in some cases also the bust of St Duthac, the patron saint of Tain, flanked by initials SD.