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Lot Essay
The Kitchen family was one of the most prominent merchant families in Salem at the turn of the 18th century.
In his will, dated 5 July 1765, Edward Kitchen bequeathed the present canns to the Third Church:
I will and bequeath to the Church the Revd. Mr. Huntington is ye Pastor of six Silver Pint Cans with the three half Moons and the Sun engraven thereon wrote upon them the Gift of Edward Kitchen to said Church.
His description of the engraving indicates that these canns belonged to him and were presented after years of domestic use.
The arms are those of Symmes. It is likely that Edward Kitchen inherited these canns through his wife's family (Wolcott), as a teapot by Jacob Hurd is engraved with the arms of Symmes impaling those of Wolcott (Hollis French, Jacob Hurd and His Sons, Nathaniel and Benjamin, Silversmiths, 1702-1781, Cambridge, 1939, no. 383, plate XX). A coffee pot by John Coburn, circa 1755, is engraved with the arms of Symmes as on these canns, and is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Buhler, 1972, no. 263).
In his will, dated 5 July 1765, Edward Kitchen bequeathed the present canns to the Third Church:
I will and bequeath to the Church the Revd. Mr. Huntington is ye Pastor of six Silver Pint Cans with the three half Moons and the Sun engraven thereon wrote upon them the Gift of Edward Kitchen to said Church.
His description of the engraving indicates that these canns belonged to him and were presented after years of domestic use.
The arms are those of Symmes. It is likely that Edward Kitchen inherited these canns through his wife's family (Wolcott), as a teapot by Jacob Hurd is engraved with the arms of Symmes impaling those of Wolcott (Hollis French, Jacob Hurd and His Sons, Nathaniel and Benjamin, Silversmiths, 1702-1781, Cambridge, 1939, no. 383, plate XX). A coffee pot by John Coburn, circa 1755, is engraved with the arms of Symmes as on these canns, and is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Buhler, 1972, no. 263).