AN AMERICAN SILVER TANKARD

MARK OF SAMUEL MINOTT, BOSTON, CIRCA 1765

Details

AN AMERICAN SILVER TANKARD
MARK OF SAMUEL MINOTT, BOSTON, CIRCA 1765
The tapered cylindrical body applied with midband, with domed cover and spiral-twist flame finial, the handle with scroll thumbpiece and oval terminal, engraved with the presentation inscription The Gift of Mr. Edward Devotion to the Church of Brooklin 1744; marked near rim with Kane mark B
9 in. (22.9 cm.) high; 32 oz. (1,001 gr.)

Literature

William Henry Lyon, The First Parish in Brookline, 1898, illus. p. 45
Susan Vining Griggs, "The Devotion Family of Brookline," Brookline Historical Publication Society, No. 14, 1898, illus. p. 40
John Buck, Old Plate, Its Makers & Marks, 1903, p. 241
E. Alfred Jones, The Old Silver of American Churches, 1913, pl. XXXVII, pp. 99-103
Patricia Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, 1998, p. 696

Lot Essay

The donor, Edward Devotion Jr. (1668-1744), was the son of Edward Devotion Sr. (1621-1685), a Huguenot who came to Brookline, Massachusetts in the 1640s from the noble de Vautien family of Rochelle, France. The present lot is mentioned in Devotion’s will, proved 27 November 1744, "I give to the Church of Christ in Brooklyn one Silver Tankard containing one Quart." For a detailed account of the Devotion family and a transcription of Edward Devotion’s will, see Walter K. Watkins, "The Devotion Family," Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society at the Annual Meeting, 28 January 1902.

Devotion also left a bequest to the town for public schooling; its legacy is the Devotion School which is still active today. The Devotion House, now a museum and headquarters of Brookline Historical Society, dates to 1740, with the interior structure being much older, c. 1680. The house is therefore one of the oldest structures in Brookline.

More from Important Silver and Objects of Vertu

View All