Saucepan

Silver saucepans held liquids that were prepared in the kitchen and transferred to the vessel for use at the dining table. Colonial examples have not survived in large numbers, perhaps due to the damage they suffered while resting in heated chafing dishes. Among Massachusetts makers, few are known. Warmed brandy and butter were but two liquids served in saucepans, and these diminutive pans undoubtedly served many other purposes as well.

This example and a similar one by Samuel Edwards (cat. no. 56), Coburn’s likely master, are of the reel-shaped variety that appeared briefly in the mid-eighteenth century. Therefore, Coburn likely learned to fashion this form while working as an apprentice in Edwards’s shop. Coburn’s uncle Ebenezer Storer was married to Mary Edwards, sister to the Edwards silversmiths, and this family connection may have led to his apprenticeship and to commissions such as this sauceboat.

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.