An engraved English gilt-silver mounted Gujarat mother-of-pearl Communion cup

Gujarat, late 16th/early 17th century, the silver mounts English, circa 1625

The cup on a rubbed gilt-silver weighted foot, overall with old restorations and repairs to the mother-of-pearl, and with an engraved silver mounted rim.

H. 7.9 x diam. 10.2 cm (cup)

Provenance:
Private collection, United Kingdom

The gilt-silver mounts along the rim are engraved with the following text:

Memoriae Christianitatis Elizabethae Kighley Consanguiniae Guilielmus Wheler Herueus Testis Indignus Consecravit Dittoniee In Comitatu Surrie Septembr 1625

Which translates to:

To the memory of the Christian Elizabeth Kighley, a relative by blood, William Wheler, an unworthy witness, consecrated (this cup) At Ditton in the county of Surrey, September 1625

There are two Dittons in Surrey, Thames Ditton and Long Ditton, but unfortunately, the parish registers for Thames Ditton only date from 1663. The registers for Long Ditton do date back to 1564, but there were no burials recorded in this parish for 1625.

However, the vicar of Long Ditton at this time appears to have been a bit lax at completing his registers since there are very few entries for the 1620s, and we could not find any Kighleys or Keigleys among the few entries there were. Since the Kighley family appears to have been wealthy enough to warrant such a cup, one would have thought that her burial would have been recorded, so she may have been from Thames Ditton, rather than Long Ditton. Sadly, most early records have not survived