A shield surmounted with the Royal coat of arms and dedicatory inscription framed by archers with a central figure against a background of archery contest in a field beside a walled city

A shield surmounted by the Royal coat of arms impaling those of Catherine of Braganza with the royal crown, royal supporters - the lion and the unicorn - Garter ribband with the Garter motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE and Royal motto DIEU ET MON DROIT. Beneath chased vine leaves and laurel leaves represent celebration and victory. The shield is flanked by two archers, one may represent an Ancient Briton; the other wears a Roman armoured tunic; both have shields with a fleche of arrows to the side. The upper and lower border are decorated with acanthus foliage. In the centre, an archer facing to the right in profile relief is set against a background of an archery contest in grounds identified as Finsbury Archery Ground outside a walled city, representing London. Above the archer's head is the inscription REGINAE CATHERINAE SAGITARY. Beneath two bows and a fleche of arrows are tied with a ribbon which bears the dedicatory inscription ED HUNGERFORD OF^.Y^. HON ORDER OF^. Y^. BATH K ASHFIELD GEN^TSTUARD^S ANNO DOMINI 1676

Lent by the Royal Toxophilite Society

Possibly made in London by John Cooqus (born about 1630, died in 1697)

The shield is associated with William Wood who in 1676 was appointed to the new post of 'Marshall of The Queen's Majesty's Regiment of Archers' which may have been an alternate grand name the Society of Finsbury Archers gave itself, or it may have been a more gentrified unit formed from within the Society, arising from the resolution of the tensions with the Honorable Artillery Company the previous year. Its name was obviously intended as a gesture of loyalty, as well as to sustain royal favour. There is no evidence to confirm the earlier suggestion that the shield was given by Catherine of Braganza to the Marshall of the Fraternity of Oxford (an archery club associated with the court).

According to research, (see references).

A decision was made by the Society of Finsbury Archers to commission a silver artefact, to be known (in another gesture of loyalty) as the Catherine of Braganza Shield, named for King Charles II's Portuguese Queen. Members of the Society subscribed one guinea each toward its cost, and the shield was presented to William Wood, as the Society's new Marshall to mark the esteem in which he was held by the Society. It appears to have been hoped that the Queen might present the Shield personally, but there is no record of this happening.

There is no known record of when William Wood was awarded a knighthood. It must have been after 1676, when his profile was at its highest but he was not yet referred to as 'Sir William'; presumably it was shortly afterwards. The Royal Company of Archers was formed in Scotland in 1676.
The Finsbury Archers were founded in the sixteenth century and exercised in Finsbury Fields, still an open space outside the City walls. In 1676 they gave themselves the additional title of Queen Catherine's Archers, their loyalty may have been inspired by the Queen's birth sign Sagittarius - to which the inscription on the shield refers.

In 1682 Wood published a small book, 'The Bowman's Glory, or Archery Revived', which was clearly intended to continue and propagate his life's work of raising the profile of archery, as well as sustaining royal favour. THe Toxophilite Society was founded in 1781 by Sir Ashton Lever, a collector of natural and artificial curiosities from Alkrington Hall, Manchester who moved to Leicester House, London in 1774 where he opened his Holophusicon or museum 'of the whole of nature'. The Toxophilite Society absorbed the last surviving members of the Finsbury Archers who brought with them the Braganza Shield in its decorated container which still belongs to the 'Tox' as it is known. The Prince of Wales, later George IV, became Patron of the Society in 1787.

The shield has been on loan to the V&A since 1929.

Two images of Sir William Wood (1609-1691), author of The Bowman's Glory,1682, have been painted in oil on two wooden panels which originally formed the top and bottom of a box containing the Catherine of Braganza shield. In these portraits, Wood is depicted wearing the same shield on his breast with the inscription in a cartouche below the portrait 'With Aboundance of Love', and in one portrait is shown as Marshal of the Queen's Majesty's Regiment of Archers, possibly an alternative name for the Finsbury Archers. He was appointed to this post in 1676, and the shield may well have been commissioned by the Society of Finsbury Archers in honour of this appointment. The web site for the Finsbury Archers illustrates a later engraving of William Wood wearing the archery shield, presumably based on the portrait on the box.

Object Type
This shield belonged to the Fraternity of Oxford, an archery club associated with the court of Charles II. It would have been worn on the chest by the Marshal as a mark of office. Archery had been a popular sport in England since the 14th century. Competitions were encouraged by the monarch in order to have a supply of trained archers in times of war. By the 17th century firearms had made archery less important but it was still an enjoyable recreation.

Materials and Making
This is a technically accomplished piece, made from a single sheet of silver. The pattern was produced by chasing. In this technique, the design is pricked onto the surface and the object is placed in a bed of pitch. It is then worked with a small chasing hammer and punches. With the shield, the decoration was worked from the rear and therefore appears in relief. It has also been also burnished and pitted which makes the decoration more visible. This would require many different tools.

People
This highly skilled work was probably that of a foreign silversmith, perhaps John Cooqus from Liège in Flanders (now Belgium). As a foreigner, he was not entitled to work in England but was granted permission to do so by Charles II and made royal goldsmith in 1661. He was not supervised by the Goldsmiths' Company and therefore not obliged to mark his work.

Inscription
The shield is inscribed as follows: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE [the motto of the Order of the Garter] / DIEU ET MON DROIT [the royal motto] / REGINAE CATHARINAE SAGITARY [a reference to the Queen, Catherine of Braganza, as a patron of archery] /ED HUNGERFORD OF^.Y^. HON ORDER OF^. Y^. BATH K [a reference to a Knight of the Order of the Bath who served as Steward ]/ASHFIELD GEN^TSTUARD^S [a reference to another Gentlemen Steward]/ANNO DOMINI 1676 [date].

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