The maker's mark on the present porringer was attributed to Robert Smythier by Charles Oman (Caroline Silver, London, 1970, 31-32). Smythier apprenticed under Henry Greenaway for eight years before becoming free on 1 October 1660. Smythier died before 13 November 1689, at which point his son John registered a mark of an S crowned in a lozenge, which was the mark used by Robert Smythier's widow Agnes Smythier, to whom John was apprenticed. An almost identical porringer by Smythier also dated 1683 is in the collection of the Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester (acc. no. 1957.87). Another similar porringer by Smythier was sold as The Property of a Boston Collector, Christie's, New York, 19 April 1990, lot 314.
Chinoiserie decoration, such as that found on the present porringer, enjoyed popularity in the 1680s and 90s. These vivid depictions of Chinoiserie scenes are as compelling to the modern eye, with its ready knowledge of other cultures through travel and film as they must have been for London’s wealthy families of the 1680s, for whom the cultures of the East were but a dream in the mind’s eye. Knowledge of China and Japan for the citizens of 17th century London was stitched together from traveler’s written accounts and engravings, goods like lacquer and porcelain shipped home by the East India Company, the taste of expensive imported tea, and plays staged in London theatres. Likewise, the sources informing Chinoiserie decoration are a varied mélange, including John Nieuhoff’s An Embassy to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China (Amsterdam, 1685 and London, 1669), whose illustrations were the source for much of the Chinoiserie engraving and flat-chasing of the period.