Pitcher

On these two pitchers, the scenes of country cottages, meandering brooks, ruined Gothic buildings, and steepled churches are typical expressions of the sentimental Romantic movement of the nineteenth century, which gave rise to the Gothic Revival and the rebirth of many other historic styles. Romanticism emphasized the emotional qualities found in landscapes, art, and architecture with quaint irregularities, stirring contrasts, and historical associations.

The maker’s marks stamped on the base of this pitcher were used during the years 1846 – 1861, when Samuel Kirk’s son Henry Child Kirk first worked with him. By this time, the elder Kirk’s distinctive “Baltimore” Rococo-revival style was fully developed, and the entire surface of this large pitcher is covered with hand-chased repoussé ornament. A late-summer landscape of trees surrounding a steepled church, adorned with two stately Italianate towers and set beside a stream with a bridge, surrounds the inscribed reserve under the spout. Roses in full bloom and grapevines laden with fruit form a meandering framework around the landscape. More orderly circles of roses ring the shoulder and base.

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.