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拍品專文
Possibly the earliest dated American eagle pommel sword, made during the year of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this silver-hilted sword is an outstanding relic of American history.
Richard Humphreys (1750-1832) is best known for his tea service urn commissioned in 1774 by the first Continental Congress for Secretary Charles Thomson, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The urn is regarded as the first piece of Neoclassical silver in America, based on English models and a full fifteen years ahead of Philadelphia fashion. Humphreys also made George Washington's silver campaign mess service comprising a set of spoons and camp cups engraved with Washington's crest.
Born into a distinguished Quaker family on the Island of Tortola in the West Indies, Humphreys most likely apprenticed to Bancroft Woolcott in Wilmington, Delaware, from 1765 to 1771, his earliest production dating to that period. He moved to Philadelphia in 1772 and took over the business of Phillip Syng, Jr., from whom he rented both shop and house on Front Street, and worked as a silversmith and goldsmith there until 1769. Disowned by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting in 1775 for his military pursuits, he appears as a sub-lieutenant and later a captain in the Pennsylvania militia, a rank he resigned from in 1780. Readmitted to the Monthly Meeting in 1783, Humphreys remained a member in good standing until his death in 1832.
Only two other silver-hilted swords by Humphreys are known, both plain flat-cap pommel hunting swords. The appearance of an eagle pommel sword by Humphreys is highly significant in itself, but the dating of the sword to 1776 also distinguishes it from eother Revolutionary period marked examples such as those of Bailey, including the Samuel Blodget Silver-Mounted Sword and Scabbard sold, Christie's, New York, 21 January 2006, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, lot 545, which can only be loosely dated after Bailey's departure from New York City to his workshops upstate.
In the period during and immediately after the Revolutionary War, the eagle pommel became a prominent motif on American silver-hilt swords, taking the place of the popular lion-head motif that was closely associated with English heraldry. Although this pommel style was employed in probably all European countries in the 1770s, the eagle came to take on specific patriotic significance during the War for Independence and was declared to be the national bird in 1782. Most eagle pommels date to the 1790s or later, when the creative technique changed from largely hollow cast one-piece hilts to hollow cast two-piece hilts, and regional styles began to develop, particularly in Philadelphia and Baltimore. The Philadelphia style is characterized by a bulbous beak and a crest of feathers projecting from the back of the head and the Baltimore style features a more delicate head. Indeed, the sword here corresponds more with the 'Baltimore' type. It is the articulated quality of the design here, quite advanced in comparison to other early colonial eagle pommels, which designates this sword as particularly unique. Indeed, this early specimen indicates the beginning of a trajectory of increasing elaboration, even up through the mid-19th century. For more information about eagle pommel swords, please see Daniel D. Hartzler's extensive chapter and extensive illustrations in Silver Mounted Swords: the Latimer Family Collection (2000).
William McKissack (1754-1831) was an officer in the Pennsylvania Militia and Continental Line, a well-known doctor, and a leading Masonic figure in New Jersey. McKissack first appears on militia rolls on 19 August 1775, as Clerk and Private. On 9 July 1776 he is listed as Ensign in Colonel Joseph Hart's Bucks County Battalion of the Flying Camp, a mobile reserve created by Washington and stationed in New Jersey. Commissioned Captain in August of that year the regiment was called to active duty in New York and fought at Fort Washington, where the leading colonel was killed and the regiment's survivors surrendered with rest of the fort's defenders. The terms of the surrender allowed officers to keep personal property, which, significantly, included their swords.
McKissack was released from captivity in January 1777 and appears on the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental line 1780 roll of officers. He may have taken up medicine while still in the army, as family tradition records him having served in military hospitals towards the end of the war. By 1784 McKissack had moved to Somerset County, New Jersey, where he practiced medicine and was a leader in Masonic affairs, becoming founder of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of New Jersey in 1786. He is buried in the Old Presbyterian Grave yard in Bound Brook, New Jersey.
This lot includes not only the sword and its upper and middle mounts, but its original suspension chains and open-work belt hood with the martial motif of crossed swords. Preserved with it is a "Pay Roll for Capt. William McKissack's Company, belonging to Col. William Baxter's Regt. Of Flying-Camp from Bucks County State of Pennsylvania," framed under glass. The roll covers from October 1, 1776 through January 31, 1777, at which point the company returned from captivity. McKissack is named in the heading, but not in the roll, as he was still a prisoner. A copy of the this document is in McKissack's file in the National Archives with 1779 letters to the Continental Congress seeking pay for widows of his men, reinstatement in the army, and postwar letters regarding a pension.
Richard Humphreys (1750-1832) is best known for his tea service urn commissioned in 1774 by the first Continental Congress for Secretary Charles Thomson, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The urn is regarded as the first piece of Neoclassical silver in America, based on English models and a full fifteen years ahead of Philadelphia fashion. Humphreys also made George Washington's silver campaign mess service comprising a set of spoons and camp cups engraved with Washington's crest.
Born into a distinguished Quaker family on the Island of Tortola in the West Indies, Humphreys most likely apprenticed to Bancroft Woolcott in Wilmington, Delaware, from 1765 to 1771, his earliest production dating to that period. He moved to Philadelphia in 1772 and took over the business of Phillip Syng, Jr., from whom he rented both shop and house on Front Street, and worked as a silversmith and goldsmith there until 1769. Disowned by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting in 1775 for his military pursuits, he appears as a sub-lieutenant and later a captain in the Pennsylvania militia, a rank he resigned from in 1780. Readmitted to the Monthly Meeting in 1783, Humphreys remained a member in good standing until his death in 1832.
Only two other silver-hilted swords by Humphreys are known, both plain flat-cap pommel hunting swords. The appearance of an eagle pommel sword by Humphreys is highly significant in itself, but the dating of the sword to 1776 also distinguishes it from eother Revolutionary period marked examples such as those of Bailey, including the Samuel Blodget Silver-Mounted Sword and Scabbard sold, Christie's, New York, 21 January 2006, Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair, lot 545, which can only be loosely dated after Bailey's departure from New York City to his workshops upstate.
In the period during and immediately after the Revolutionary War, the eagle pommel became a prominent motif on American silver-hilt swords, taking the place of the popular lion-head motif that was closely associated with English heraldry. Although this pommel style was employed in probably all European countries in the 1770s, the eagle came to take on specific patriotic significance during the War for Independence and was declared to be the national bird in 1782. Most eagle pommels date to the 1790s or later, when the creative technique changed from largely hollow cast one-piece hilts to hollow cast two-piece hilts, and regional styles began to develop, particularly in Philadelphia and Baltimore. The Philadelphia style is characterized by a bulbous beak and a crest of feathers projecting from the back of the head and the Baltimore style features a more delicate head. Indeed, the sword here corresponds more with the 'Baltimore' type. It is the articulated quality of the design here, quite advanced in comparison to other early colonial eagle pommels, which designates this sword as particularly unique. Indeed, this early specimen indicates the beginning of a trajectory of increasing elaboration, even up through the mid-19th century. For more information about eagle pommel swords, please see Daniel D. Hartzler's extensive chapter and extensive illustrations in Silver Mounted Swords: the Latimer Family Collection (2000).
William McKissack (1754-1831) was an officer in the Pennsylvania Militia and Continental Line, a well-known doctor, and a leading Masonic figure in New Jersey. McKissack first appears on militia rolls on 19 August 1775, as Clerk and Private. On 9 July 1776 he is listed as Ensign in Colonel Joseph Hart's Bucks County Battalion of the Flying Camp, a mobile reserve created by Washington and stationed in New Jersey. Commissioned Captain in August of that year the regiment was called to active duty in New York and fought at Fort Washington, where the leading colonel was killed and the regiment's survivors surrendered with rest of the fort's defenders. The terms of the surrender allowed officers to keep personal property, which, significantly, included their swords.
McKissack was released from captivity in January 1777 and appears on the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental line 1780 roll of officers. He may have taken up medicine while still in the army, as family tradition records him having served in military hospitals towards the end of the war. By 1784 McKissack had moved to Somerset County, New Jersey, where he practiced medicine and was a leader in Masonic affairs, becoming founder of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of New Jersey in 1786. He is buried in the Old Presbyterian Grave yard in Bound Brook, New Jersey.
This lot includes not only the sword and its upper and middle mounts, but its original suspension chains and open-work belt hood with the martial motif of crossed swords. Preserved with it is a "Pay Roll for Capt. William McKissack's Company, belonging to Col. William Baxter's Regt. Of Flying-Camp from Bucks County State of Pennsylvania," framed under glass. The roll covers from October 1, 1776 through January 31, 1777, at which point the company returned from captivity. McKissack is named in the heading, but not in the roll, as he was still a prisoner. A copy of the this document is in McKissack's file in the National Archives with 1779 letters to the Continental Congress seeking pay for widows of his men, reinstatement in the army, and postwar letters regarding a pension.