ANCIENT LOVING CUP

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 53, 30 August 1940, Page 11

ANCIENT LOVING CUP

GIFT TO DOMINION

GIRDLERS' COMPANY

CENTENNIAL GOOD WISHES

l A replica of an ancient silver loving cup, the original of which has been one of the treasures of the Worshipful Company of Girdlers for 300 years, and a bound history of the Guild, have been presented to the High Commissioner, Mr. W. J. Jordan, in London, by Sir William Barber, the Worshipful Master. The gifts are in commemoration of the association of the company with New Zealand on the occasion of the centenary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. For many years it has been the custom for the company to entertain New Zealanders at the Girdlers' Hall after the annual service at St. Lawrence Jewry, New Zealand's official church in London, on New Zealand DayFebruary 6. St. Lawrence Jewry has been the church of the guild for centuries. j The original cup is about il inches high. The bowl has a matted ground, and engraved on it are the arms of the donor and the arms of the. company, together with an inscription that it is the Gift of John Planner, Citizen and Girdler, 1656. It has stamped on it the hall mark for 1656, the year it was presented. The copy presented at New Zealand House omits the inscription and the arms of John Planner, but has the arms of New Zealand and the Girdlers' Company inscribed on panels on the outer surface.

In addition, on the rosewood plinth, are four panels. No. 1 records the presentation, No. 2 gives the reasons for the gifts (the names of the Hon. P. Fraser, Prime Minister, and Mr. Jordan, High Commissioner, appear on this.panel), No. 3 carries the name of Sir William Barber, present master of the company, and the names of the wardens, and No. 4 the names of the present Court of Assistants of the company and the clerk.

The history of the guild was written many years ago by the clerk, William Dumville Smythe. The volume presented was bound by- the Upper Warden, Lionel Vincent Straker, in blue Levant morocco, with gold enrichments, the colours of the company,' and the two most important colours on the holy girdle with which Moses invested Aaron when he consecrated him as High Priest. On the front are the arms of the company inlaid in heraldic colours supplemented at the four corners by reproductions of one of the flowers of the Garden of Eden as shown on the Indian carpet presented to the company by John Bell, master of the company,, in 1633-34. The volume a}so has the fern leaf of New Zealand impressed in gold on the binding, and it is further enriched with illustrations, one being of the original of the cup, another of the Indian carpet made at the factory of Akbar the Great at Lahore, and presented to the company by Robert Bell in 1634, and still others depict the Crowns used at the annual coronation of the master and wardens, the old letters patent (King Edward III), and the old seal of the company. There is a photograph of the court room, and the armilla and girdle presented to the King by the Girdlers' Company and worn by him at his Coronation.

son, Miss S. Morrison, and Mr. L. B. | Clark. Mrs. P. G; Harle, ,Mrs. L. B. Clark, and Miss N. E. Donovan (secretary) served afternoon tea. ' Drama Club's Play-reading., A successful reading of Ben Levy's fee, "Springtime for Henry," was given recently by the Wellington Girls' College Old Girls' Association Drama Club in their club rooms. Those reading were Mrs. Stebbings, Misses Margery Packer, Rorpa Bitossi, and Grace Jensen. Mrs. W. O. Urquhart prel sided, and supper was served by the committee members.