Salver

John Burt, American, 1692/3 - 1745/6
Boston, Massachusetts

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about 1728

Silver

Overall: 1 3/4 × 5 3/4 in. (4.4 × 14.6 cm)

Base: 2 7/8 in. (7.3 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Louise C. and Frank L. Harrington, Class of 1924

M.971.22

Geography

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

1600-1800

Object Name

Tools and Equipment: Food Service

Research Area

Decorative Arts

Not on view

Inscriptions

Marked on top near rim: I:Burt [in cartouche]; scratched on bottom 4=18=0

Label

This diminutive hexafoil-shaped salver with a trumpet base was used to serve wafers, biscuits, mints, or drinks. It is believed to be the only one of this shape among documented American silver. While English hexafoil salvers of this period usually had three or four feet, John Burt’s example retains the trumpet base used more than twenty years earlier by John Coney, with whom Burt likely trained. In contrast to the heavier ornamentation featured in the earlier example, this work’s emphasis on clean, curvilinear forms reflected the Queen Anne style that gained popularity in America during the second quarter of the 18th century.

From the 2019 exhibition American Art, Colonial to Modern, curated by Barbara J. MacAdam, Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art

Course History

HIST 9.1, Empires and Colonies in North America, Paul Musselwhite, Fall 2014

Exhibition History

American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.

American Art, Colonial to Modern, Israel Sack Gallery and Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-September 12, 2021.

American Arts of the 18th Century, Colby College Art Museum, Waterville, Maine, August 7-September 30, 1967.

Colonial Days, Brick Store Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine, July 30-August 3, 1963.

Ellis Memorial Antiques Show, Paul Revere Life Insurance Company's Paul Revere Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts, October 30-November 4, 1961.

Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 16-June 2, 1978.

Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 10-March 1, 1981.

Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 30-June 21, 1979.

Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 28, 1981-June 7, 1982.

Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 1-30, 1964.

Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 14-October 8, 1976.

Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 10, 1976-January 28, 1977.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 2, 2009-present.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 26, 1996-June 22, 1997.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1997-May 8, 2007.

Massachusetts Silver of the Colonial Period, Strauss Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 1972.

Masterpieces of American Silver, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, 1960.

New England Silver at Dartmouth College: A Tribute to Frank L. Harrington, Class of 1924, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 3-August 20, 1989, no. 11.

Publication History

Barbara J. MacAdam, New England Silver at Dartmouth College: A Tribute to Frank L. Harrington, Class of 1924, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1989, no. 11.

Jaquelyn Baas and Charles Willard Moore, Treasures of the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1985, p. 107, no. 91.

Margaret J. Moody, American Decorative Arts at Dartmouth, Hanovr, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1981, no. 9.

The Magazine Antiques, Museum Accessions, January 1973.

Martha Gandy Fales, Early American Silver for the Cautious Collector, New York, New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1970.

Colby College Art Museum, American Arts of the 18th Century, Boston, Massachusetts: Thomas Todd Company, July 1967, p. 16, no. E9.

Kathryn C. Buhler, Massachusetts Silver in the Frank L. and Louise C. Harrington Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts: Barre Publishers, 1965, p. 41-43, ill. p. 42-43.

Hugh J. Gourley, The New England Silversmith, Providence, Prhode Island: Rhode Island School of Design, 1965, no. 38.

Kathryn C. Buhler, Masterpieces of American Silver, Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1960, no. 11.

Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewlers, Hanover: University Press of New England, p. 246-254, 1998.

Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 186, no. 155.

Provenance

Descended in the Dennis-Day-Dodge family; Clifford D. Hanson (1904-1983) [dealer], Westborough, Massachusetts; sold to Frank L. Harrington, Sr. (1902-1988) and Louise Cronin Harrington (1904-2000), Worcester, Massachusetts, February 1957; given to present collection, 1971.

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