MARK OF SIMEON SOUMAINE, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1730

Details

A FINE AND RARE SILVER TEAPOT
Mark of Simeon Soumaine, New York, circa 1730
Globular, on stepped molded foot, with octagonally faceted straight spout, the wooden scroll handle with octagonally faceted handle joins, the hinged double domed cover with baluster finial, the base engraved with block initials E*H, marked on base
10¼in. long over handle; 17oz. 10dwt.

Provenance

The initials E*H probably refer to a member of the Hunt family,
by descent to:
Anna Maria Watkins (1794-1880) of Reading, New York, great-grandniece of John Hunt (son of Obadiah Hunt, the tavernkeeper)
Maria Teresa Lewis, niece, who married James George Stacey of Geneva, New York in April 1862
Hon. Adrian Tuttle (1835-1919) of Reading, New York, cousin
Adeline Terry Tuttle (1871-1958), daughter
William M. Tuttle (1905-1962), nephew
Thence by descent to the present owner

This teapot is mentioned in the will of Anna Maria Watkins (see p. 80).

Lot Essay

This previously unrecorded teapot is a significant addition to the very small group of spherical teapots with double-domed covers produced exclusively by New York silversmiths. Four other examples of this form include: an identical teapot made by Simeon Soumaine now in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York; one by Bartholomew Schatts in the Bayou Bend collection; one by Benjamin Wynkoop, Jr. in the Sterling and Clark Institute; and one by Adrian Bancker sold privately in 1991. (see: Deborah Dependahl Waters, Elegant Plate, 2000, no. 71 pp. 193-94).

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