Tankard

John Potwine, son of a Huguenot physician, may have become apprenticed to William Cowell Sr. due to physical proximity as well as friendship. It is known that the two families lived adjacent to each other; Joseph Cowell, probably William Cowell Sr.’s uncle, witnessed the will of Potwine’s father, and both families attended the Brattle Street Church. Potwine probably began working independently in Boston from about 1719 until his departure in 1734 for Hartford, Connecticut.

In Boston, Potwine enjoyed patronage from South Church as well as area churches in Weston and Charlestown and prominent mercantile families, including those of Ebenezer and Mary (Edwards) Storer and Edward and Abigail (Coney) Bromfield. Potwine also sold general goods, some of which were purchased from merchant Peter Faneuil. Among his political customers were Roger Wolcott (1679 – 1767), governor of Connecticut from 1750 to 1754, and Maj. William Pynchon (1739 – 1808) of Springfield, Massachusetts, for whom he made a sword and cann, respectively.

This tankard descended in the Tolman/Hartt family of Dorchester and Scituate, Massachusetts; it probably dates to the second quarter of the eighteenth century, for it exhibits a somewhat shorter profile and smaller dome than appear in classic Boston tankards made during the middle and latter part of the century. It is similar to several others by Potwine that have been dated to the 1730s. Assuming that the inscription refers to the first owner, the tankard was probably made before Potwine left Boston in 1734.

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.