A Georgian treen searce used for sifting powder.  This example has a lovely pie crust edge, unscrews in the middle and still retains its wire mesh. It has a very old minor repair to the base.
 Antique treen searces were used for sifting powders mainly for apothecaries, the sieved powder would then be made into a paste for pills. Antique searces consists of a semi circular bowl to the top this should have a metal perforated mesh in its central lower section which will let the sieved powder to pass through to the base. The base is hollow it unscrews and the powder can be retrieved.These antique treen searces are particularly rare to find.
c1760/80
This example measures  approx 12.5cm w x 6.5cm h.