Pinto period. Of inverted lobed baluster form upon three legs with hoof feet, with serrated leaf junctions. The pull off domed spirally fluted lid surmounted by a wrythen finial atop a leafy calyx. Marked underneath with maker’s mark (untraced), 875 standard mark MA surmounted by a Maltese cross crowned (Farrugia XI I 21c), and mint mark of Michele Pianta (Farrugia p. 228). Height - 11.7 cm / 4.6 inches Weight – 197 grams / 6.33 oztNotes:“It is amazing that all the early maker’s marks recorded, and there are about twenty-one of them, bear exactly the same date of licensing(?), 1715. One can be sure that at least some these early silversmiths had worked as silversmiths before that date The writer has encountered a silver basin which bears the assay mark of G.M. Gregorio Carafa (1680-1690) accompanied by that of the maker who was Vincenzo Menville, (1715). This means that that this maker had been working as a silversmith a long time before his name is first mentioned in Lupi Xerri’s list. Another discrepancy may also be noticed in the list of silversmiths and date of license available. Maniscalco Domenico’s date of license is put down as 1715. Giuseppe Maniscalco di Domenico, evidently his son, also has his date of license 1715 which is highly improbable.” Farrugia, J., (1992). Antique Maltese Domestic Silver, Valetta: Said International. P.25. For another Maltese sugar bowl of closely related form by the same maker, sold these rooms, 20 Oct 2021, lot 409 (£2750 incl. prem) For another Maltese sugar bowl by the same maker, sold these rooms, 30 Oct 2020, lot 249 (£2,250 including premium)