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Lot Essay
John Lyon Gardiner (1770-1816) was only four years old when his father, David Gardiner (1738-1774), died and he inherited Gardiner's Island. His uncle, Colonel Abraham Gardiner, (see lot 145 for his silver ladle) served as his guardian until he reached his majority in 1791 and became the seventh proprietor of Gardiner's Island. He attended Princeton and married Sarah Griswold, the daughter of the governor of Connecticut.
Upon inheriting Gardiner's Island, Gardiner ordered new furnishings and silver from both local craftsmen and more sophisticated shops in New York City and Boston. This tankard, made by the Southampton silversmith Elias Pelletreau, is in the style of tankards made about 1750 and illustrates Gardiner's conservative taste.
Elias Pelletreau (1726-1810) was born in Southampton and apprenticed to the New York silversmith Simeon Soumaine from 1741 to 1748 and was admitted a freeman of the city of New York in 1750. In that same year he moved back to Southampton with his wife, Sarah Gelston, and after her death married Sarah Conkling in 1786. Prior to the Revolution, Pelletreau served as a captain in the Southampton Company.
The present tankard, along with other silver ordered by Gardiner, is recorded in Pelletreau's account book, dated April 2, 1791, and indicates the weight as 35 oz. 7 dwt. 12 gr. and the expense of fashioning the tankard and engraving the cipher. A corresponding entry, dated April 22, 1791, in John Lyon Gardiner's account book confirms the purchase of this tankard.
Although the tankard was engraved 1792 in the nineteenth century, it was ordered in 1791. It is thought that 1792 could refer to the date that Gardiner reached his majority, however, the actual date was 1791.
Caption: John Lyon Gardiner (1770-1816), lot 262
Upon inheriting Gardiner's Island, Gardiner ordered new furnishings and silver from both local craftsmen and more sophisticated shops in New York City and Boston. This tankard, made by the Southampton silversmith Elias Pelletreau, is in the style of tankards made about 1750 and illustrates Gardiner's conservative taste.
Elias Pelletreau (1726-1810) was born in Southampton and apprenticed to the New York silversmith Simeon Soumaine from 1741 to 1748 and was admitted a freeman of the city of New York in 1750. In that same year he moved back to Southampton with his wife, Sarah Gelston, and after her death married Sarah Conkling in 1786. Prior to the Revolution, Pelletreau served as a captain in the Southampton Company.
The present tankard, along with other silver ordered by Gardiner, is recorded in Pelletreau's account book, dated April 2, 1791, and indicates the weight as 35 oz. 7 dwt. 12 gr. and the expense of fashioning the tankard and engraving the cipher. A corresponding entry, dated April 22, 1791, in John Lyon Gardiner's account book confirms the purchase of this tankard.
Although the tankard was engraved 1792 in the nineteenth century, it was ordered in 1791. It is thought that 1792 could refer to the date that Gardiner reached his majority, however, the actual date was 1791.
Caption: John Lyon Gardiner (1770-1816), lot 262