George III silver wine funnel

George III silver wine funnel or silver wine strainer in a traditional design where the main body is decorated in a gadroon pattern. This sterling silver funnel has a detachable hand-pierced strainer to hold the muslin in place.

First appearing at the end of the 17th century, silver wine funnels were designed to decant wine from the bottle to a decanter for the table.

The bowl was pierced with holes for catching larger pieces of detritus such as cork, while a retaining ring kept a piece of muslin straining cloth in place which filtered out finer sediment and prevented spoiling the wine in the decanter.

In the 18th century the spigot was crafted with a curved tip to ensure the wine ran gently down the wall of the decanter and, particularly for very fine or old wines, prevent bruising the wine.