Tankard
1700–10
Object PlaceBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Medium/TechniqueSilver
Dimensions17.5 x 12.8 x 19.2 cm (6 7/8 x 5 1/16 x 7 9/16 in.)
Credit LineGift in memory of John Bryant Paine and Louise Frazer Paine from their children and grandchildren
Accession number1980.242
DescriptionAbout twenty-four tankards bearing Winslow’s mark are known, most dated between 1700 and 1730. The tankard for the Paine family of Eastham, Massachusetts — with its plain body and flat lid, handle accented with a cast dolphin-and-mask thumbpiece, and cherub terminal — is characteristic of many that Winslow made.
Family history records that this tankard was originally owned by Thomas and Mary Paine, who were married in 1650. If they did purchase it, they acquired it some forty years after their marriage, an unusual acquisition made late in their lives.
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.
ProvenanceAccording to family history and the engraved initials, the tankard was made for Thomas Paine (1612 – 1706) of Yarmouth and Eastham, Massachusetts, who in 1650 m. Mary Snow (1627 – 1704), daughter of Nicholas (1602 – 1676) and Constance (Hopkins) Snow (about 1605 – 1677) of Eastham. However, it is more likely the tankard was first owned by their son James (1665 – 1728) and his wife, Bethiah Thacher (1671 – 1734). The tankard passed by descent to their son the Rev. Thomas Paine (1694 – 1757) and Eunice Treat (1704 – 1747), thence to Thomas’s son Robert Treat Paine (1731 – 1814), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife, Sarah (Sally) Cobb (1740 – 1816). The tankard briefly entered the matrilineal line when it was given to Paine’s eldest daughter, Mary (1780 – 1842), m. the Rev. Elisha Clap (also Clapp) (1783 – 1869). As the couple had no issue, the tankard returned to the patrilineal line when it was inherited by their nephew Charles Cushing Paine (1808 – 1874) and his wife, Fanny Cabot Jackson (1812 – 1878). The tankard was given to their son Charles Jackson Paine (1833 – 1916) and his wife, Julia Lee Bryant (1847 – 1901), and thence to their son John Bryant Paine (1870 – 1951). The tankard was made a gift in honor of John Bryant Paine and his wife, Louise Rue Frazer (1879 – 1968), by their children and grandchildren: Helen Sumner Paine Dickson; Caroline Satterthwait Paine Ganson; Julia Lee Paine Wakefield; her children Elizabeth W. Doermann, Julia W. Proctor, Joan W. Millspaugh, and Sarah K. Wakefield; Louise Frazer Paine Erickson; Sarah Cushing Paine Forbes; Henrietta N. Paine.
