Americana

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Lot 121
  • 121

The Lois Wiswell Tankard: An American silver tankard, Benjamin Burt, Boston, circa 1790

Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • maker's mark BENJAMIN BURT in two lines in cartouche at each side of handle (Kane mark A), base with scratch weight 29oz 10
  • Silver
  • height 9 3/8 in.
  • 23.7cm
tapered cylindrical with molded girdle,stepped domed cover with writhen finial and scroll thumbpiece, engraved The Gift of Lois Wiswell to the first Church in Dorchester 1808

Provenance

Gift of Lois Wiswell in 1808 to

The First Parish in Dorchester, Dorchester, MA

Exhibited

Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1911. American Church Silver of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, with a few pieces of Domestic Plate, no. 104, p. 13
Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, loan, 1938-2011

Literature

John Henry Buck, Old Plate, its Makers & Marks, 1903, p. 240.
E. Alfred Jones, The Old Silver of American Churches, 1913, p. 148-49.
Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, 1998, p. 240.

Condition

good condition, slightly later engraving
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

The donor of this tankard, Lois Wiswell, was born in Dorchester on 25 March 1731 and died two days short of her 88th birthday in 1818.  She was the daughter of John Wiswell (1688-1774) and his first wife Sarah Pierce (1698-1747). 19th century historian John Goodwin Locke notes that the Pierce family of Dorchester "have been men of substance, being industrious and frugal, and have held a respectable rank in society, having intermarried with many of the most respectable families in Dorchester and the vicinity" (John Goodwin Locke, Book of the Lockes, a Genealogical and Historical Records of the Descendants of William Locke of Woburn, 1853, p. 317).