Sauceboat (one of pair)
Samuel Edwards, American, 1705 - 1762
Boston, Massachusetts
about 1740
Silver
Overall: 5 1/4 × 8 3/4 in. (13.3 × 22.2 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Louise C. and Frank L. Harrington, Class of 1924, in honor of Kathryn C. Buhler
M.984.63.1
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
1600-1800
Object Name
Tools and Equipment: Food Service
Research Area
Decorative Arts
On view
Inscriptions
Marked on bottom at center: SE [pellet between, crowned with fleur-de-lis in shield]
Label
To manufacture the tankard and sauceboats, Boston silversmiths Henry Hurst and Samuel Edwards likely used South American silver mined by enslaved people of African and Indigenous descent. Silver extracted by enslaved people enriched the Spanish empire when transported and sold globally.
We do not know if Hurst or Edwards knew of these mining practices, but if they did, they probably did not care. Hurst and Edwards each enslaved at least one man, but their names are unknown to us. They are listed by age—rather than name—in period documents. It is likely these enslaved men labored in the shops of these two Boston silversmiths.
From the 2023 exhibition Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
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.
Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 1986.
Harrington Silver Case, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 1985.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 22, 1991-June 22, 1997.
Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1997-May 8, 2007.
Liquidity: Art, Commodities, and Water, Israel Sack Gallery and the Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 29, 2023-June 16, 2024.
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. 34.
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. 34.
The Magazine Antiques, Museum Accessions, October 1985, p. 662-670, ill. p. 666.
Decorative Arts Society Newsletter, vol. 11, no. 2, June, 1985, ill. p. 14.
Patricia E. Kane, Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewlers, Hanover: University Press of New England, p. 427-451, 1998.
Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 189, no. 158.
Provenance
Descended in Lyman Family. Purchased in Cooperstown, New York; sold to Frank L. Harrington, Sr. (1902-1988) and Louise Cronin Harrington (1904-2000), Worcester, Massachusetts; given to present collection, 1984.
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