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Lot Essay
This octagonal sugar bowl belongs to the substantial group of silver owned by Oswald and Lydia Peel, married in Philadelphia in 1729. The entire group of silver, weighing a total of 364 troy ounces, is described in Oswald Peel's Estate Inventory of 1765, as "1 Slop Bowl 1 Sugar Dish 1 doz Table Spoons 1 Punch Bowl 2 Tankards 2 Cans 6 Tea Spoons 2 Cream Pots 2 Tea Pots 1 Coffee Pot 3 Castors 2 Salts & Shovels 2 Tea Cannisters 2 small Waiters 6 porringers 1 Soop Spoon a Tea Strainer a pair of Tea Tongs and Punch Strainer." (Philadelphia Register of Wills, no. 141)
Lydia Peel, in her Will of 1783, divided this silver among her four children, leaving her daughter Grace "One square slop Basin, One square Sugar Dish, One square Tea Pot and stand, One square Cream Pott, Two square Cannistors and three square Cast[ers] all of Silver." (Philadelphia Register of Wills, no. 306)
This sugar bowl is further documented by the account book of Joseph Richardson, where it is recorded in February of 1736. The account of "osweld Peal" is charged for "a Sugar Dish wt 11 oz 9 dwt at 3/0 per oz" which cost Peel L5 3s plus an additional L2 5s for "Making ye above." (Joseph Richardson's Accounts Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania mss #Am9240). Martha Fales, in her monograph Joseph Richardson and Family found that the present sugar bowl is the earliest known sugar bowl made by Richardson. She writes "This dish is particularly important, for the early date establishes its oval mark as the first touchmark used by Joseph Richardson and helps date the appearance of the octagonal form in early rococo silver." (Fales, Richardson, 1974, p.91)
One of the two "square Cannistors" belonging to Oswald and Lydia Peel was sold at Christie's, June 21, 1995, lot 88. Along with the present sugar bowl, the Peel Family "cannister" or tea caddy was recently exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The second Peel Family tea caddy is illustrated in Martha Fales, op. cit., p.99, illus. 64.
In 1728, Oswald Peel came to Philadelphia from Barbados, where he had been a captain of a merchant vessel. Once in Philadelphia he became a ship owner and successful merchant. Peel was one of the Bugesses in Assembly for the city from 1742 to 1748, and a County Representative from 1748 to 1749. He built "Peel Hall" on the Ridge Road about three miles from the city, and lived there from 1742 until his death in 1765. Lydia Peel was the daughter of Richard Robinson (d. 1745), a Quaker merchant who came to Philadelphia after 1702. (Charles R. Hildeburn, Manuscript Collection of Family Data, n.d., v. II, pp. 58-59, Historical Society of Philadelphia)
Lydia Peel, in her Will of 1783, divided this silver among her four children, leaving her daughter Grace "One square slop Basin, One square Sugar Dish, One square Tea Pot and stand, One square Cream Pott, Two square Cannistors and three square Cast[ers] all of Silver." (Philadelphia Register of Wills, no. 306)
This sugar bowl is further documented by the account book of Joseph Richardson, where it is recorded in February of 1736. The account of "osweld Peal" is charged for "a Sugar Dish wt 11 oz 9 dwt at 3/0 per oz" which cost Peel L5 3s plus an additional L2 5s for "Making ye above." (Joseph Richardson's Accounts Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania mss #Am9240). Martha Fales, in her monograph Joseph Richardson and Family found that the present sugar bowl is the earliest known sugar bowl made by Richardson. She writes "This dish is particularly important, for the early date establishes its oval mark as the first touchmark used by Joseph Richardson and helps date the appearance of the octagonal form in early rococo silver." (Fales, Richardson, 1974, p.91)
One of the two "square Cannistors" belonging to Oswald and Lydia Peel was sold at Christie's, June 21, 1995, lot 88. Along with the present sugar bowl, the Peel Family "cannister" or tea caddy was recently exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The second Peel Family tea caddy is illustrated in Martha Fales, op. cit., p.99, illus. 64.
In 1728, Oswald Peel came to Philadelphia from Barbados, where he had been a captain of a merchant vessel. Once in Philadelphia he became a ship owner and successful merchant. Peel was one of the Bugesses in Assembly for the city from 1742 to 1748, and a County Representative from 1748 to 1749. He built "Peel Hall" on the Ridge Road about three miles from the city, and lived there from 1742 until his death in 1765. Lydia Peel was the daughter of Richard Robinson (d. 1745), a Quaker merchant who came to Philadelphia after 1702. (Charles R. Hildeburn, Manuscript Collection of Family Data, n.d., v. II, pp. 58-59, Historical Society of Philadelphia)