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Inscriptions

Marked on back of stem: REVERE [pellet preceding, in rectangle]; engraved on handle, within oval, two pendant flowers below: MAS [in monogram]

Label

Porringers are small silver bowls with handles inspired by floral motifs. A parent could hold the bowl’s decorative handle in one hand and still use a spoon to feed a child, making these small silver bowls popular as christening gifts among the upper class. The porringer in this case bears the marks of two silversmiths, Samuel Bartlett of Concord, Massachusetts, and Joseph Loring of Boston. Scholars have theorized that Bartlett may have made these pieces and that the more prosperous Loring, with his extensive inventory of silver and jewelry, retailed them to the larger Boston market. Other pieces of silver in this case include floral decoration, including the sugar tongs—a form inextricably linked to enslaved people’s production of sugar in the period.

Can you find the other flowers in this case? And yes, the Paul Revere who made these two spoons is the same one you read about in the history books.

From the 2024 exhibition Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

English 39.01, American Fiction: 1950-1990, Kimberly Brown, Winter 2025

Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2025

Spanish 3.01, Spanish III, Natalia Monetti, Spring 2025

Spanish 3.02, Spanish III, Natalia Monetti, Spring 2025

Anthropology 31.01, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 36.01, Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives, Sabrina Billings, Fall 2025

Studio Session: Beyond the Bouquet, Winter 2025

Special Tour: Attitude of Coexistence and Beyond the Bouquet, Winter 2025

Exhibition Tour: Attitudes of Coexistence and Beyond the Bouquet, Winter 2026

Exhibition History

American Silver, Barrows Print Room, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 27-November 3, 1974.

Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 18, 2024 - January 10, 2026.

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

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 30-June 21, 1979.

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-August 15, 1976.

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.67.

The New England Silversmith, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, October 23-November 28, 1965.

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.67.

Hugh J. Gourley, The New England Silversmith, Providence, Rhode Island: Rhode Island School of Design, 1965, no.167.

Kathryn C. Buhler, Massachusetts Silver in the Frank L. and Louise C. Harrington Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts: Barre Publishers, 1965, p. 102, ill. p. 103.

Provenance

George Abraham - Gilbert May Antiques, Granville, Massachusetts; sold to Frank L. Harrington, Sr. (1902-1988) and Louise Cronin Harrington (1904-2000), Worcester, Massachusetts, January 28, 1961; given to present collection, 1970.

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