A rare Elizabeth I engraved horn shoe horn by Robert Mindum Dated 1600 Of typical moulded form with a curling handle and suspension hole, the exterior intricately decorated, the widest rounded end with a large fleur-de-lys motif on a scrolling ground, above a tapering rectangular panel with the date 1600 within an interlaced strapwork border above the initials ER and a flowerhead roundel set within short guilloche bands, the handle end with a stylised fishscale panel, the outer border with engraved inscription THIS IS FRANCIS HINSONS SHOE HORNE, GYVEN BY MARGREAT*** ***H AND ELISABEATH SMITH AND MADE BY ROBERT MINDVM, the reverse with a crudely engraved monogram EG, the rounded shoe horn end with chipped losses to the border. the scrolling handle end with losses, later wrapped in linen strips to re-enforced the end 19.5cm long, 5.5cm wide, 4cm deep approximately Footnotes: Robert Mindum is the earliest identified English maker of engraved horn shoehorns, with a remarkable surviving group of more than twenty examples dated between 1593 and 1613, together with a decorated powder horn. His shoehorns are characteristically signed and dated, and often bear the name of the recipient or owner, suggesting that they were made as personal or presentation objects rather than simply as utilitarian implements. The earliest recorded example, dated 1593, is housed in the collection of The Salisbury Museum and depicts a woman in contemporary Elizabethan dress, perhaps Jane Ayers, whose name appears in the inscription. It provides an important early point of comparison for the present example. https://salisburymuseum.org.uk/collections/shoehorn/ Mindum's identity and precise occupation remain uncertain, although the distinctive vocabulary of his engraving-figures, flowers, strapwork, geometric ornament and inscriptions-has prompted comparison with contemporary printed decoration. The exceptional survival of his signed work may indicate either considerable productivity or the esteem in which such personalised objects were held; the scarcity of plain surviving examples makes it impossible to establish how unusual decorated shoehorns were in the period. Certainly by the the late 19th century, Mindum's work was obviously well known to the Society of Antiquaries. This can be illustrated by an extract of the proceedings of a meeting held on 24 November 1892 which records Mr Hartshorne exhibited a shoehorn carved by Robert Mindum, dated 1598, while Sir John Evans exhibited a powder horn and two further shoehorns, also carved by Mindum. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing