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Pewter was in everyday use in most households, churches and places of commerce in Europe for hundreds of years before it fell out of favor in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as new materials and manufacturing methods became available. The pewter wares of Scotland have for a long time interested collectors, who have been attracted by their simple functionality of form, reflecting the protestant culture of the time. Despite this, very little research had been carried out, and Scottish pewter has remained one of the least understood areas of the country’s material heritage.
After a lifetime of study, Peter Spencer Davies has now produced what will be the definitive guide to the subject. Drawing upon the extensive archival material that has survived, the book traces the history of the craft of the pewterers from its origins in the early years of the sixteenth century, and shows how they came to dominate the craft guilds for much of the next three hundred years. The evolution of pewter wares and the regional differences in style across the country is described, and the influence of Scotland’s overseas trading partners explained. The book is lavishly illustrated with examples of every known type of pewter ware, together with the names, dates and marks of the pewterers in each of the burghs where pewter was made.
The book is fully referenced and has an extensive bibliography, and will be an indispensible resource for collectors, museums, antique dealers and fine art salerooms. However, the fascinating and sometimes intimate story of the pewterers and the regulation of their craft by Parliament and Council, gives the book a wide appeal to anyone interested in this somewhat neglected area of the socio- economic history and development of Scotland’s material culture.
