Collection Highlights
Mrs. Charles Walsh (nee Blood) dressed for the Vanderbilt costume ball, March 26, 1883
Date:
March 26, 1883
Object Number:
PR.223.3.35.1
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Museum Collections
Luce Center
Two-handled cup and cover
Object Number:
1984.57ab
Date:
1762/63
Medium:
Silver
Dimensions:
Overall: 14 3/4 x 11 3/4 x 6 3/8 in. ( 37.5 x 29.8 x 16.2 cm )
Silver Weight: 73 oz (troy) 11 dwt (2288 g)
Marks:
struck on underside of cup and bezel of cover: "F*C" in a rectangle, lion passant, leopard's head crowned, date letter "G" (for 1762-63).
Inscriptions:
engraved on band above foot: "Isaac & Elizabeth Gouverneur 1762" / "S.M.S 1799-1835" /
"G.R.H. 1801-1888" / "E.A.H 1829-1902" and "S.V.H. 1866-1942" / "M.E.H 1899".
engraved on edge of foot: "1759"
Description:
Wrought silver two-handled cup and cover; pear-shaped body covered in alternating repoussé chased spirals of fruit and leaves with scrolls and beading and foliage; seated on a raised circular foot with conforming decoration and a band of inscription below the joint, "Isaac & Elizabeth Gouverneur 1762. MEH 1899/ S.M.S. 177901835 G.R.H. 1808-1888 E.A.H. 1829-1902 S. V. H. 1866-1942" in script; high domed lid decorated with conforming decoration and surmounted by a cast pomegranate finial; two double-scroll handles with acanthus grips and tails applied to the sides of the body; cartouche on the front center engraved with three birds; maker's marks stamped on the base.
Gallery Label:
Isaac Gouverneur (1749-1800), a New York City merchant, was presented this English cup at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Peacham in 1777. If the family history is correct, the cup's presenter must have acquired the gift in the second-hand market, as it was made fifteen years before the Gouverneurs' marriage. The cup descended through the Gouverneur family, with each generation recording its ownership by adding to the engraving above the foot until the last member donated it to the Society in 1984.
Bibliography:
Hofer, Margaret K. "Seventeenth-and eighteenth-century family silver." The Magazine Antiques 167 (2005): 156-160.
Credit Line:
Gift of Dr. Eugene Hoffman Walker in memory of Mai Elmendorf Hackstaff Walker
Provenance:
Isaac Gouverneur (1749-1800), who married Elizabeth Peachman (1760-1831); to their daughter Susan Matilda Gouverneur (1779-1835), who married (2nd) Garrit Storm (1778-1851); to their daughter Glorvina Rossell Storm (1808-1888), who married Samuel Verplanck Hoffman (1802-1880); to their son Eugene Augustus Hoffman (1829-1902), who married Mary Crooke Elmendorf (1829-1911); to their son Samuel Verplanck Hoffman (1866-1942), who married Louisa Norwood Smith (1872-1962); to their daughter Margaret Elmendorf Hoffman (1899-1974); to her cousin Dr. Eugene Hoffman Walker (1915-2002), the donor.
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.
