Inscriptions: Engraved "IT" monogram; "This silver plate was sold by H.M. the Emperor of Abyssinia in London Anno Domini 1936" / Inscrições: Monograma "IT" gravado; "This silver dish was sold by H.M. the Emperor of Abyssinia in London Anno Domini 1936"

Plain round salver of scalloped edge defined by thirty-two concave and grooved radial sections, centred by a medallion encircled by reeded frame. This plain roundel is occupied by the engraved monogram IT and, peripherally to its underside, framed by the engraved note "This silver dish was sold by H.M. the Emperor of Abyssinia in London Anno Domini 1936" in cursive script.

The city of Aveiro assay mark A3.0, or it’s variant , points to a manufacture date in the early 18th century. Objects stamped with municipal marks for Aveiro are rare, what makes this salver a singular example within the context of Portuguese silverware production.

While curating the 1940 exhibition on Portuguese Goldsmithing, at the Machado de Castro National Museum, in Coimbra, António Nogueira Gonçalves, a master at the city’s ancient University, identified for the first time an example of an Aveiro Municipal assay-mark. Another seven identically stamped objects have since been recorded.

A similar salver, from the former collection Francisco Barros e Sá, can be seen at the National Museum of Ancient Art, in Lisbon.

Attributable to Gabriel de Figueiredo, the goldsmith’s mark F (A11.0) , substantiates a dating to the first half of the 18th century. A total of seven objects of varying types made by this goldsmith have so far been identified, the present salver being the only one of its typology. Of the eleven known Aveiro goldsmith’s marks only Figueredo has been identified up until now.