Object Type
The trays that often accompanied snuffers were used to catch the flakes of dried wax. Snuffers are first recorded in the 15th century and were originally invented to cut off and retain the burnt wicks of candles when the wax around them had melted; they were not necessarily used to extinguish the candle's flame. The point at the end was for retrieving the tip of the wick if it fell into molten wax. Numerous patents for snuffers are known from the middle of the 18th century, and reappeared regularly with new improvements until 1840, when candles that completely consumed their wicks were first developed, rendering snuffers superfluous.

Design & Designing
The grand and stately style of this tray clearly separate it from the delicate formalities of Neo-classicism and harks back to French Rococo while also anticipating the historical eclecticism of the Victorians. The early 19th-century revival of interest in Rococo plate was partly stimulated by the royal goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, who were frequently commissioned by their royal patrons to add pieces in a consistent style to incomplete sets of Rococo silver, including pieces from the workshop of the 18th-century silversmith Nicholas Sprimont.

Materials & Making
The decoration of the tray is stamped and chased in a Rococo revival style, epitomised by the fleshy asymmetrical acanthus leaf ornamentation around the rim. These rims are made of die-stamped silver filled with lead solder and were applied around the edge of tray in order to conceal the copper core of the sheet. This technique prevented the dark copper edge from becoming visible even when worn.