The main focus of this chapter is on Hans Holbein the younger and his seminal influence on style at Henry's court. But it also considers wider foreign influences on English plate. This was felt partly through foreign plate arriving as diplomatic gifts or purchases, partly through plate being made in London by ‘stranger’ goldsmiths, and partly through engraved ornament prints, known as pattern books.

Our knowledge of the style of court goldsmiths’ work during the first two decades of the reign is limited to the very few surviving royal objects, together with analogous pieces made for other patrons. As a result, these few things have to work very hard; arguably too hard, for it is difficult to know, given the brevity of inventory descriptions, how truly representative the latter are of the things that graced the king's chambers. In this respect the first quarter of the century could hardly stand in greater contrast to the second, for which the equally few real objects are supplemented by a wealth of designs, both in the form of pattern books, informing us of general stylistic trends, and through a remarkable cache of Holbein's designs for actual commissions.

Two objects in particular give us an insight into court style around the beginning of the second quarter of the century, immediately before Holbein's arrival: the so-called Howard Grace Cup in the Victoria and Albert Museum (fig. 10.1), and an instrument case in the collection of the Barbers’ Company (fig. 10.2).

The cup's silver-gilt mounts bear London hallmarks for 1525–26 and, despite incorporating an older ivory cup (by tradition associated with Thomas Becket), could have sat well with the presents and display plate seen at the Field of Cloth of Gold. The overall form and decoration of the mounts are entirely contemporary. They are divided into horizontal zones with pierced friezes of masks and foliage around the base and cover, while the finial is formed as a gadrooned vase, itself a distinctly ‘antique’ motif.