Stalked by Leopards
“To walk around Goldsmiths’ Hall is to be stalked by leopards” - Head of the Goldsmiths’ Company’ Library and Archives, Eleni Bide, explores the story behind our ever present feline friend, which has been a symbol of the Company and of the London Assay Office for almost 700 years.
To walk around Goldsmiths’ Hall is to be stalked by leopards. Passers-by are tracked by feline faces above the door on Foster Lane and on the wrought-iron arch into the Company’s garden on Gresham Street. Once you are inside the building leopards peer out from arches and carved tables and chairs. They consort with unicorns on carpets and are let loose in their thousands by the London Assay Office, which applies the leopard’s head onto every article it hallmarks.
While the leopard is the most recognisable emblem associated with the Goldsmiths’ Company, it does not stand alone. The coat of arms features leopards alongside cups, buckles, unicorns and a half-maiden holding sets of tools; each has its own special meaning.
The most ancient symbols are the objects – cups and buckles – which represent jewellery and silversmithing. They were used by early medieval goldsmiths as a reference to their trade long before the Company was formally established and survive as wax seals on documents.
They were joined by the leopard’s head in the earliest known versions of the Company’s coat of arms, dating to the late 15th century. The big cat was derived from the lions found in royal heraldry and was used as a stamp to guarantee the purity of gold and silverware when King Edward I passed the first hallmarking law in 1300. The (still charter-less) guild of goldsmiths was tasked with implementing this new system of consumer protection, and the symbol has been associated with the Company ever since. It is now recognised as the town-mark for the London Assay Office. Although the old saying declares that ‘the leopard can’t change its spots’, the one belonging to the Goldsmiths’ has certainly metamorphosed over the centuries. Early examples show a beast with its tongue out, and until the 18th century it had a mane.
This medieval coat of arms seems to have been of the Company’s own devising, and it did not have official permission to use it. This needed to be granted by the College of Heralds, and in the late 16th century the Company took steps to get its coat of arms properly recognised.
The Goldsmiths’ Company Coat of Arms from 1571
The achievement of arms confirmed by Clarenceux King of Arms on 8 November 1571 incorporated the familiar shield but added unicorns as supporters, a crest in the form of a demi-maiden on top of a helm (helmet); and a motto ‘Justitia virtutum regina’, or ‘Justice the queen of virtues’. These new elements each symbolised an aspect of hallmarking. The maiden holds a touchstone and a set of scales - both tools used to test, or ‘assay’ the composition of metal. The motto is another allusion to the practice of testing, while the unicorns have an association with purity, which hallmarking aims to guarantee: according to a cleric writing in the 13th century the legendary beast could only be captured by a virgin, at whose feet it would lie in submission.
The grant of arms codified the elements and colours the Goldsmiths’ could use in their heraldry, but how they were expressed followed fashion. Not to be outdone by the changing leopard, at various points the demi-maiden has been an Elizabethan lady or a classical goddess. The unicorns have appeared fierce or friendly, and the shield has been rendered with rococo flourishes and the angularity of art deco. In 1692 the map maker John Ward took a decidedly playful approach and drew several different versions of the coat of arms for the same set of plans. The leopard’s head designed in 2009 was the first created to accommodate digital technologies, and is affectionately known as ‘robo-leopard’.
Together the symbolism found on the coat of arms tells the Company’s story. For nearly seven centuries it has cared for the interests of both jewellers and silversmiths and ensured industry standards through hallmarking. The leopards, unicorns, cups, buckles and maidens who dance across its surfaces are a testament to that commitment.
Written by Eleni Bide