AN AMERICAN SILVER TANKARD

MARK OF JOHN DIXWELL, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, DATED 1714

Details

AN AMERICAN SILVER TANKARD
MARK OF JOHN DIXWELL, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, DATED 1714
of tapered cylindrical form with molded rim and base band, stepped domed cover with incised rim, scroll thumbpiece, S-scroll handle springing from elongated drop with applied point, applied with a baluster drop and ending in a shield form thumbpiece engraved with a flower, the front engraved New n.c. / octo.r20.1714, marked ID in oval left of handle and on cover near thumbpiece, the base with scratch weight 23-9
7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) high; 22 oz. (624 gr.)

Provenance

New North Church, Boston, Massachusetts, 1714
Joseph Whitney, 1911
The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords, Sotheby's, New York, 29 October 2004, lot 6866

Literature

E. Alfred Jones, Old Silver of American Churches, 1922, p. 66, pl. XXXVI.
Patricia Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, 1998, p. 381.

Exhibited

"American Church Silver of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1911, cat. no. 314, illustrated.

Lot Essay

As one of the seventeen founders or "mechanics" of the New North Church, Boston, in 1714, John Dixwell was a donor, a deacon as well as a ruling elder of the church. Dixwell was the leading craftsman of choice for several gifts to the church which included four tankards in 1714, three two-handled cups (1715, 1717 and 1723), a beaker (1716), and a baptismal basin (1722).

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