Tankard

The son of a saddler, Richard Conyers was trained in London before arriving in Boston about 1698. Despite his London apprenticeship, and the chasing assistance of Swedish-born Henry Hurst (about 1666 – 1717/18), who for a brief time served as his indentured servant, Conyers encountered financial troubles and was unable to fully establish himself in his adopted city. Only seven known examples bear Conyers’s mark.1 Despite the lack of finished, marked work, Conyers’s talent and knowlege of recent English fashions likely made him attractive to established Boston silversmiths as a journeyman or special-order silversmith. Future scholars may discern his accomplishments in objects made in the shops of better-established Boston silversmiths.

This diminutive tankard’s crisp detailing, as found in the gadrooned lid, crenate lip, and cast cherub’s mask terminal, exemplifies the urbane high style that Conyers and other English immigrants imparted to the Boston trade at the turn of the century. His mark, placed in the English manner on both the lid and body, is perhaps a vestige of his early training.

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.