Collection Highlights
William Walton (1706-1768)
Date:
ca. 1750
Object Number:
1902.3
Medium:
Oil on canvas
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Oyster tureen
Object Number:
1946.94ab
Date:
1863
Medium:
Silver
Dimensions:
Overall: 12 1/4 x 12 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. ( 31.1 x 32.4 x 23.5 cm )
Silver Weight: 53 oz (troy) 19 dwt (1678 g)
Marks:
engraved: front center: "PRESENTED/ to/ Judge Advocate General/ William Henry Anthon./ BY THE/ Commissioners and Surgeons of Drafting/ in the/ CITY of NEW YORK./ AS A/ Testimonial/ of their appreciation of the eminent ability and unswerving/ integrity wit
Description:
Wrought and cast silver covered bowl; deep bowl shaped body with an applied egg and trefoil dart band below the plain rim; seated on a circular splayed pedestal with a molded bead band around the joint and around the edge of the foot; two cast, reeded strap handles crimped in the center with a beaded ring and arrow heads applied to each side of the body with cast ram's head joints; stepped and domed lid with a molded beaded band around the center; cast helmet finial screwed through the center of the lid; engraved on the front center, "PRESENTED/ to/ Judge Advocate General/ William Henry Anthon./ BY THE/ Commissioners and Surgeons of Drafting/ in the/ CITY of NEW YORK./ AS A/ Testimonial/ of their appreciation of the eminent ability and unswerving/ integrity with which the proceeding preparatory to the draft were conducted./ Dated New York, April 1863./ Maj.r Gen. C. W. Sandford/ Maj.r Gen. H. T. Kiersted../ Brig. Gen. Wm. Hall....../ P. B. Mauran . M.D......./ R. A. McCurdy. EsqE...../ COMMITTEE" in multiple scripts; makers' marks stamped on the base.
Gallery Label:
This tureen, typical of Tiffany silver of the 1850s and 1860s, is minimally decorated with Neoclassical ornament: egg-and-dart and beaded borders, vine handles with sculpted ram terminals, and a cast helmet finial. The concentric striations visible on the tureen's foot suggest that it was manufactured by spinning, a mechanical process used in the United States from the 1830s to shape rounded hollowware components. The "M" mark, part of the lengthy mark struck on the tureen's underside, specifies that the tureen was produced by the shop of Edward C. Moore. This tureen was presented to William Henry Anthon (1827-1875), a prominent New York lawyer who was appointed Judge Advocate General in 1863, in recognition of his preparations for the city's Civil War draft.
Credit Line:
Gift of Stuyvesant Fish
Provenance:
William Henry Anthon (1827-1875), who married Sarah Atwood Meert (1829-1911); probably to their daughter Marion Anthon Graves (1853-1915), who married Stuyvesant Fish, Sr. (1851-1923); to their son Stuyvesant Fish, Jr. (1883-1952), the donor.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
