George IV silver wine funnel

An excellent example of an antique, George-IV-era silver wine funnel and filter. Created in a heavy gauge of silver, both funnel and filter are in perfect condition.

The deep bowl of the filter is hand pierced in a flowerhead pattern and allows for rapid pouring without the chance of the wine or port backing up and spilling. It is fitted with a removable silver ring (later addition) to hold the straining muslin in place and the rim is decorated with an applied leaf, shell and gadroon mount. The body of the funnel is hand chased with vertical and lobed fluting and the spout is perfectly formed to ensure gentle pouring.

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.