Images(2)

Tankard

John Edwards (American, about 1671–1746)

1730

Object PlaceBoston, Massachusetts

Medium/TechniqueSilver

Dimensions20.1 x 17.6 x 10.2 cm (7 15/16 x 6 15/16 x 4 in.)

Credit LineGift of the First Church in Newton

Accession number1973.20

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsSilver hollowware

Collections

Americas

Description

The modest scale and low dome of this John Edwards tankard, as well as its lack of a midband, illustrate that it was made in the period between the broad-bodied flat-topped tankards of the 1710s and 1720s and the taller high-domed works that prevailed after the 1740s.

This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.

InscriptionsOn body of tankard oppposite handle is engraved in italics"The Gift of Ebenezer Stone Senr. / to the Church of Christ in Newtown / 1730".ProvenanceEbenezer Stone Sr. (1662/63 – 1754), the donor, was patriarch of the Stone and Trowbridge families who provided three pieces of ecclesiastical plate for the First Church in Newton between 1730 and 1768. In 1686 Stone m. Margaret Trowbridge (1666 – 1710). Their son John (1692 – 1769) gave a tankard marked by Minott and Austin to the First Church in Newton (1973.18). Stone’s brother-in-law Deacon William Trowbridge (1684 – 1744) gave a Jacob Hurd beaker (1973.22).