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Lot Essay
The crest is that of Hutchinson, probably for Thomas Hutchinson (1675-1739), merchant of Boston.
The Hutchinson coat of arms also appears on a chocolate pot by Edward Winslow, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Beth Carver Wees, Early American Silver in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013, no. 71). Wees suggests that Thomas Hutchinson was the owner of the chocolate pot on the basis of his great wealth and the provenance supplied by the donor in 1919. Indeed, Hutchinson owned a vast amount of silver, with over 600 ounces in silver objects recorded in his will (Wees, op. cit., p. 196).
Two single chafing dishes identical to the present examples, with the distinctive claw feet, are at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA 57.701) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA 41.70.4). Pairs of chafing dishes are extremely rare; only one other by Coney, of a simpler form, is known (illustrated in Kathryn C. Buhler, American Silver, 1655-1825, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972, fig. 60, pp. 70-71).
The Hutchinson coat of arms also appears on a chocolate pot by Edward Winslow, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Beth Carver Wees, Early American Silver in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013, no. 71). Wees suggests that Thomas Hutchinson was the owner of the chocolate pot on the basis of his great wealth and the provenance supplied by the donor in 1919. Indeed, Hutchinson owned a vast amount of silver, with over 600 ounces in silver objects recorded in his will (Wees, op. cit., p. 196).
Two single chafing dishes identical to the present examples, with the distinctive claw feet, are at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA 57.701) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA 41.70.4). Pairs of chafing dishes are extremely rare; only one other by Coney, of a simpler form, is known (illustrated in Kathryn C. Buhler, American Silver, 1655-1825, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972, fig. 60, pp. 70-71).