William IV silver wine funnel

Lovely antique silver wine funnel in excellent condition, with pretty flowerhead pattern pierced strainer and French gadroon pattern applied border.

First appearing at the end of the 17th century, silver wine funnels or wine strainers were used to decant wine from the bottle to a decanter for the table. Examples from that early period are very rare and most antique wine funnels date from between 1770 and 1830.

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.