William IV Scottish silver wine funnel

An antique Scottish silver wine funnel with a decorative applied floral pattern rim and scallop shell mount. The funnel comes apart in the centre. There is a hand-pierced interior panel filter decorated in a starburst pattern. The curved spout opening allows the wine to be directed to the side of the decanter rather than splashed straight down, thereby avoiding the possibility of 'bruising' the wine and rendering it cloudy.

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.