In the early 18th century style, of baluster form upon a spreading circular foot, the curved spout with a hinged cap, at a right angle to a wooden C scroll handle, the hinged domed lid surmounted by a knop finial, raised by a bifurcated scroll finial. Planished decoration. Fully and part-marked, maker's mark C.W over A.N.K. Height -21.9 cm / 8.65 inches Weight - 741 grams / 23.82 oztProvenance:Commissioned John Fothergill for his establishments, the Spread Eagle, Thame and subsequently the Three Swans, Market Harborough. Thence by descent.Notes:Charles Welch, a teacher at the Central School of Arts where Kirk was studying. He and Kirk joint mark with the workshop address as 54 Willow Road Hampstead, Kirk’s home address. Charles Welch (1864-1952) qualified as a silversmith as early as 1901 (1901 census entry) and is listed as member of the 1928 Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. He spent most of his career as a “teacher of metalwork” (1911 census) at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. He seems never to have registered his own mark individually. His son Frederick Welch (1891-1941), was also a silversmith and spent most of his life teaching metalwork at the Royal College of Art. Arthur Nevill Kirk (1881-1958), was born in Lewes, Sussex, England. Kirk is listed in the 1901 census as an “apprentice watchmaker and jeweller” and by 1911 as “art jeweller”. Enlisted in 1915, he was discharged from the army on medical grounds in 1916, at which point he joined the London at the Central School of Arts & Crafts (1916-20) as a student, where he learnt traditional silversmithing and enamelling. He remained at the CSAC as a renowned metalworking instructor until invited to relocate to Detroit, USA, in 1927. Kirk assumed a position at the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts where he was commissioned to produce an ecclesiastical plate for Christ Church, Cranbrook. The following year, Kirk moved his family to Cranbrook, where he turned out a variety of works while overseeing the Silver Shop associated with the early Academy of Art operation.