The tankard of the Vicars Choral of Exeter

The vicars were deprived of their college plate in the Commonwealth of the 1640s, when they were disbanded. After their Restoration, Christopher Monk, Second Duke of Albermarle, gave them this handsome engraved silver tankard for their college use in 1683-4. It was made in London. Monk was from a North Devon family whose traditional home was Great Potheridge at Merton; his family coat of arms is engraved on the front of the tankard.

Acknowledgments: RAM Museum