.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Brattle Street Church was founded in 1699 as a liberal church in Boston, and grew to be one of the most prominent churches in the city counting numerous silversmiths as members. John Noyes, the maker of the present lot, was one of the church’s founding members. Though no donor is recorded or specified in the inscription, it is likely this tankard was a gift or bequest. In 1839, in an effort to raise money, the church auctioned off a number of pieces of silver in their possession, including this tankard, at which time it was purchased by Peter Thatcher Homer (1804 - 1887), a Boston businessman, as commemorated by the second inscription on the side of the tankard reading, This Relic purchased by / Peter Thatcher Homer / 1840. It presumably stayed in his collection and survived the Great Boston Fire in 1872, at which time the third inscription was added, reading Taken from the / ruins after the fire of November 9th / 1872.
Additional tankards made for Brattle Street Church and bearing near identical inscriptions within foliate cartouches surmounted by cherub heads include one by William Cowell Sr. from 1705 in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts (Acc No. 1998.48), one by John Edwards from 1728 sold at Christie's, New York, 18 January 1997, lot 75, and one by Andrew Tyler from 1732 in the collection of the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts (Obj. No. 2003.4.68). A second tankard by John Edwards, along with four flagons and two cups, also share the same distinctive inscription within mantle surmounted by a cherub's head.
The tankard by William Cowell Sr. is of particular note as it is of near identical form to the tankard offered here, and likely meant to be its pair. Though the Cowell example now has a later applied spout, the two tankards are the same dimensions, with similar dolphin and mask thumbpieces and covers with shaped peaks. Additionally, when compared with the other similarly engraved works, the engraving found on these two tankards is much more detailed, with cross hatching to the bases of the berries and curly hair on the angels, as opposed to the smooth hair with upturned ends on the later examples. Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward suggest in Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000 (Boston, 2008) that Cowell, a member of the Brattle Street Church as well, created this tankard as a pair to the one by Noyes, and that Noyes himself completed the engraving, with later silversmiths copying it as they too created silver works for the church.
Additional tankards made for Brattle Street Church and bearing near identical inscriptions within foliate cartouches surmounted by cherub heads include one by William Cowell Sr. from 1705 in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts (Acc No. 1998.48), one by John Edwards from 1728 sold at Christie's, New York, 18 January 1997, lot 75, and one by Andrew Tyler from 1732 in the collection of the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts (Obj. No. 2003.4.68). A second tankard by John Edwards, along with four flagons and two cups, also share the same distinctive inscription within mantle surmounted by a cherub's head.
The tankard by William Cowell Sr. is of particular note as it is of near identical form to the tankard offered here, and likely meant to be its pair. Though the Cowell example now has a later applied spout, the two tankards are the same dimensions, with similar dolphin and mask thumbpieces and covers with shaped peaks. Additionally, when compared with the other similarly engraved works, the engraving found on these two tankards is much more detailed, with cross hatching to the bases of the berries and curly hair on the angels, as opposed to the smooth hair with upturned ends on the later examples. Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward suggest in Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000 (Boston, 2008) that Cowell, a member of the Brattle Street Church as well, created this tankard as a pair to the one by Noyes, and that Noyes himself completed the engraving, with later silversmiths copying it as they too created silver works for the church.