Lot 706
A RARE LATE 16TH / EARLY 17TH CENTURY POMANDER
with a globular segmented body and a domed circular base, the screw top section with a scrollwork suspension ring, the whole decorated with engraved cisele flowers and scrolls, the interior with engraved and numbered compartments with slide covers, hinging down around the central hexagonal pillar, unmarked, except for three small French 19th century control marks, probably either Dutch or German 1600-1630; 2.4" (6 cms) high; 3.15 oz
*This pomander is illustrated and described in Jackson, C J: Illustrated History of English Plate pp 918 (no.1220) and was then in collection of Mr. R. Drane, c.1911. It has also a printed paper label on the base with the date "Nov 1902".
** Robert R. Drane (1833-1914) is the person considered to be the founding father of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society, which was established according to many documented sources in his shop at 16 Queen Street, Cardiff in 1867. A chemist by trade, he had a wide range of interests, including natural history, porcelain and antiquities and was probably best known in the public eye as an antiquary.
Drane had a strong interest in ceramics and was an acknowledged authority on porcelain & as well as amassing his own collection, he was asked to purchase samples of pottery from the Swansea & Nantgarw Potteries for the Cardiff Museum. In 1902 he advocated for the purchase of type-specimens of English pottery by the museum and in 1903 presented many pieces for this collection.
Amongst his other non-natural history hobbies were collecting old spoons, Old English drinking vessels, early English needlework, some glassware, books, and antiquarian oddities, especially those that demonstrated the "development of religious myths". In 1857 he published a small brochure on Castell Coch: A gossiping companion to the ruin and its neighbourhood for which his sister produced the plans and drawings.
