Chester 1909 by F J Ross
An Edwardian sterling silver brooch

Modelled as theTrusty servant, a clothed bipedal pig holding farm implements. Pin and catch fitting. With associated post card.

Length - 6.2 cm / 2.4 inches

Weight - 63.6 grams / 2 ozt

The Trusty Servant is an emblematic figure in a painting at Winchester College and the name of the college's alumni magazine.

The wall-painting called The Trusty Servant, painted by John Hoskins in 1579. It hangs outside the kitchen of Winchester College in Hampshire, England.

The Trusty Servant had a didactic function: it is accompanied by allegorical verses that associate the servant's various animal parts with distinctive virtues that the students of Winchester College were meant to follow.

The Latin verses have been translated into English as:

A trusty servant's picture would you see,
This figure well survey, who'ever you be.
The porker's snout not nice in diet shows;
The padlock shut, no secret he'll disclose;
Patient, to angry lords the ass gives ear;
Swiftness on errand, the stag's feet declare;
Laden his left hand, apt to labour saith;
The coat his neatness; the open hand his faith;
Girt with his sword, his shield upon his arm,
Himself and master he'll protect from harm.