Spout cup (missing lid)

John Edwards’s early spout cups were spherical with cylindrical necks and relate stylistically to an example made during his partnership with John Allen. One was in the shape of a gallipot, a wide, urnlike form that was used for medicinal purposes and was based on ceramic vessels. Three of Edwards’s seven spout cups, dating from about 1712 to 1728, were made in a bulbous, pear-shaped form. The Museum’s two examples (see also cat. no. 48) are in this style, and each displays finely cast handles comprised of S-scrolls, sprigs, and bud terminals that delicately turn to and fro, with beaded rattail decoration on the outer curves.

The Museum’s two examples and a related third in the Winterthur collection reveal Edwards’s ability to fabricate small vessels incrementally different in size yet proportionately made to scale. Each would have required that Edwards use handles, foot rings, and spouts that differed by about 1/4 inch (1.5 cm), which he accomplished without any loss of refinement. The Museum’s cups each bear the same tender heart-shaped space cut into the vessel that leads to the spout, similar to at least one example made in London about 1697.3 Perhaps the little symbol, visible only to the server and user, offers mute testimony of familial love.

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.