A SILVER SUGAR URN
A SILVER SUGAR URN

MAKER'S MARK OF SAMUEL ALEXANDER, PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1800

Details
A SILVER SUGAR URN
Maker's mark of Samuel Alexander, Philadelphia, circa 1800
Fluted urn form on a circular foot, the borders engraved with beading, coral-work and a stylized foliate band, the conical cover with a bead finial, each side engraved with a cartouche enclosing a crest and motto PATRIIS VIRTUTIBUS, one side later engraved Elizabeth Rodman Paul 1797, the other side engraved Lawrence Taylor Paul 1897, marked under base
10in. high; 15oz.
Alexander, Samuel
Provenance
S.J. Shrubsole
Lansdell Christie Collection
Parke-Bernet, May 17, 1968, lot 175
S.J. Shrubsole, 1968

Lot Essay

The engraved names refer to a grandmother and grandson of the prominent Paul family of Philadelphia. Elizabeth Rodman (1774-1835) married James Paul (1770-1839), a merchant trader to China and the East Indies, in 1797. He was disowned by the Society of Friends in 1794 for joining military forces which suppressed the "Whiskey Insurrection."
Lawrence Taylor Paul (b. 1854) was the grandson of Elizabeth Rodman Paul. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and became a civil engineer. His father, James William Paul (1816-1897), married Hannah Clement Bunker (1820-1891) in 1841. The Clements family crest is engraved on the front of the sugar urn. (Historic Families of America, Henry A. Paul Collection, The Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

More from Important American Furniture, Silver, Prints, Folk Art

View All
View All