PROPERTY FROM THE FORBES COLLECTION SILVER FROM THE HIGHLANDER The following four lots were displayed with other maritime art from The Forbes Collection aboard the Highlander. In addition to historical marine pictures and thematic contemporary art, the Highlander Collection includes memorabilia from the Normandie, the Titanic, and Queen Victoria's Royal Yacht Osborne. Captions: left: The Highlander, the 5th in a tradition of Forbes yachts right: The Dining Salon of the Highlander, with silver display

AN IMPORTANT SILVER PUNCH URN ON GIMBAL-MOUNTED STAND

MARK OF GORHAM MFG. CO., PROVIDENCE, 1893

Details

AN IMPORTANT SILVER PUNCH URN ON GIMBAL-MOUNTED STAND
Mark of Gorham Mfg. Co., Providence, 1893
The punch urn supported on a gimbaled frame, the lower body chased with rocaille, the leaf-clad spigot with sea-monster tap, the shoulder etched with a scene depicting the birth of Venus, with two entwined dolphin handles, the domed cover chased with rocaille and surmounted by a boy riding a hippocamp, the circular frame chased with scroll and anthemion border and on three mermaid supports entwined with shells, sea-monsters, and seaweed, the weighted circular stand with gadrooned border and removable drip pan, marked on rim, drip pan, under base of urn and cover, also with pattern number 4102 in a rectangle for a special order
18½in. high, the stand 19½in. diameter

Provenance

By tradition, J.P. Morgan, for the yacht Corsair
Probably by descent to Laurens Morgan Hamilton, Georgetown, circa 1961
C.G. Sloan & Company, Inc., Washington, D.C., July 13 1986, lot 1415
The FORBES Magazine Collection, for the Highlander

Literature

Silver Magazine, September-October 1986, illus. p. 39

Exhibited

Philadelphia Maritime Museum; The Mariners' Museum, Newport News; and Explorers' Hall, National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., "The Tale of the Mermaid," November 7, 1986-October 25, 1987, an exhibition organized by the Philadelphia Maritime Museum

Lot Essay

The yacht Corsair was built for C.J. Osborn in 1880, and owned by J. Pierpont Morgan from 1882-90. At an overall length of 189 feet, the Corsair and her sister yacht Stranger were among the first large steam yachts built in America. J.P. Morgan used the Corsair to commute between New York City and his house in Cragston on the upper Hudson River. During the Spanish American War, she performed service as the U.S.S. Gloucester. (Erik Hofman, The Steam Yachts: An Era of Elegance, 1970, pp. 40-41.)

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