George IV silver wine funnel

A classic William IV era silver wine funnel with filter. This antique silver funnel has a hand chased body decorated with grape and vine pattern as well as fluted panels. The rim has a cast border decorated with shells, scrolled leaves and floral decoration. Used with doubled over muslin, the funnel allows the wine being decanted to gently pour down the side of the decanter without bruising and, at the same time, catch any sediment that wine might throw off.

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 funnel 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.