Salt (one of a pair)
about 1760–70
Object PlaceBoston, Massachusetts
Medium/TechniqueSilver
DimensionsOverall: 3 x 5.7 cm, 0.06 kg (1 3/16 x 2 1/4 in., 0.13 lb.)
Credit LineGift of Rosamond G. Heard
Accession number1991.672
DescriptionSmall footed salts such as these were commonly made during the mid-1700s; they succeeded the low circular trenchers of the early 1700s. The cast trifid-foot arrangement found on the salts is also typical of creampots and chafing dishes made during the same period. The cast cabriole legs with “molded pads” and “pad feet” described by Kathryn C. Buhler are similar to those produced by Jacob Hurd during the 1740s and 1750s and bear a close resemblance to those made by Paul Revere (cat. no. 113). The Burt salt bowls are more rounded than the broad flat-bottom salts by Hurd. Despite an active career in Boston, Benjamin Burt made few salts; only about five are known.
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.
ProvenanceDespite the prominence of the Boston families whose names grace these salts and their stamped custom-made cases, discrepancies in their texts obscure the identities of the original donor and first owner. The gift of the salts from the Warren family to the Sumner family was no doubt due to their relationship through sisters Mary Stevens Warren (about 1710 – 1800/3), mother of the patriot Joseph Warren, and Susannah Stevens Sumner (1709 – 1733). The gift was probably made by a member of the Warren family whose initials were “RW” to Susannah Boylston (1741 – 1781), who in 1757 m. Samuel Sumner (1732 – 1813), the son of Susannah Stevens Sumner. The salts descended to her daughter Elizabeth Sumner (1770 – post-1854) and Jesse Doggett (1761 – 1813), m. 1790.2 By descent to their daughter Elizabeth Sumner Doggett (1791 – 1874) and Elijah Lewis (1773 – 1858), m. 1819;3 to their son George Lewis (1820 – 1887) and Susan Minns Wheelwright (1827 – 1876), m. 1850; to their daughter Adeline Wheelwright Lewis (1858 – 1939) and John Heard (1859 – 1895), m. 1887;4 to their son John Heard Jr. (1889 – 1949) and his wife, Rosamond Gregor Marshall, the donor, m. 1939.
